Microsoft says it has “listened to feedback” following a privacy row over a new tool which takes regular screenshots of users’ activity.

It was labelled a potential “privacy nightmare” by critics when it was unveiled in May 2024 - prompting the tech giant to postpone its release. It now plans to relaunch the artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool in November on its new CoPilot+ computers.

[…]

When it initially announced the tool at its developer conference in May, Microsoft said it used AI “to make it possible to access virtually anything you have ever seen on your PC”, and likened it to having photographic memory. It said Recall could search through a users’ past activity, including their files, photos, emails and browsing history.

[…]

But critics quickly raised concerns, given the quantity of sensitive data the system would harvest, with one expert labelling it a potential “privacy nightmare."

[…]

[Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows and devices says] that “Windows offers tools to help you control your privacy and customise what gets saved for you to find later”.

However a technical blog about it states that “diagnostic data” from the tool may be shared with the firm depending on individual privacy settings.

[Microsoft says in a blog post that users can remove Recall entirely by using the optional features settings in Windows.]

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
2 points
*

May i suggest for both of you to try Linux Mint (Regular Edition, XFCE MATE or Cinnamon) ? It is the only linux distro that has never failed me once, after also getting into unfixable messees with majaro, arch, endeavour, and also regular debian and LMDE not even booting up on my PC. It uses the Ubuntu base and several of its programs (like the extensive hardware compatibility and system stuff) but takes away the bad stuff in it (like the SNAPs, that loads of people hate both for not being FOSS and to replace the regular debian and flatpak, and give a worse performance in several cases like Firefox). I also agree every linux distro sans Mint is too rough for now, but Linux Mint is the magnum opus of linux, is already click-click-install, beginner-friendly and stable like rock.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Sadly, that’s the distro I had when I did my dual boot last summer. My Lenovo just isn’t compatible with it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Mint has not worked well with my Nvidia card either. Pop_OS is doing great, though. They have an Nvidia specific install with some optimization for Nvidia cards.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

That’s good to know. Is it user-friendly?

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*

Dualboot is pretty ass and breaks all the time. I strongly suspect that was part of your issue

I am baffled to read you had to troubleshoot your linux installation every day, what kind of distro were you using?

Sorry you didn’t have a good time.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
*

Literally just Mint.

And yeah, I kind of just assumed dual-boot was a big part of the issue. I’m planning to repurpose my old PC to be a non-gaming Linux PC for everything but gaming when I upgrade later this year. Will be perfect for me to have a system for gaming only and one I can use for everything-but to protect my privacy.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Technology

!technology@beehaw.org

Create post

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Community stats

  • 2.8K

    Monthly active users

  • 1.7K

    Posts

  • 9.7K

    Comments