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The EU is still concerned about user privacy on Windows 10

The European Union's data protection watchdog appears to still be concerned about Windows 10 and Microsoft's privacy settings. Several countries within the EU have taken issue with Windows 10's privacy policies over the last year and while some changes have been made, it appears that the union isn't satisfied just yet and wants more to be done about the level of protection Windows 10 customers receive.

The EU's group of 28 authorities responsible for enforcing data protection law first approached this subject with Microsoft last year, with concerns over the default privacy settings customers get with a clean install of Windows 10. Essentially, users didn't get much say in how Microsoft processes their own data.

Now, the Article 29 Working Party has asked that Microsoft provide further explanations of its internal processing of personal data for various purposes, such as advertising, which is natively built into the Windows 10 start menu. Reuters managed to get the following quote: “In light of the above, which are separate to the results of ongoing inquiries at a national level, even considering the proposed changes to Windows 10, the Working Party remains concerned about the level of protection of users’ personal data”.

KitGuru Says: Privacy and user data have been big topics when it comes to Windows 10, with plenty of debate still going on. How do you guys feel about your privacy on Windows 10?  Do you think Microsoft needs to provide tighter privacy settings by default, or should users be expected to lock things down themselves? 

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4 comments

  1. The subject of privacy is always a concern. When installing or updating windows 10 I always go into the privacy settings and disable everything. Whether that’s really enough, well no-one really knows.

    I would be a hypocrite to boycott Win10 for this reason however. I use google, I use facebook, I use tons of high profile day-to-day applications and websites that all do exactly the same thing. That’s not to say I agree with the practice in any way, I’m just not going to single out one source of the problem when there are many more

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  3. Best thing to do is to make a local account, don’t use your Microsoft account to sign into windows. Only sign into individual apps that require a MS account.

  4. Like someone else stated use a local account and not the online account attached to MS. Then go and change the privacy settings & while your their turn off all the back ground MS apps as well they do get turned back on from time to time after a big update or a win 10 upgrade so good to check those settings once & awhile.

    Does this make your system more private I would like to think so but no one fully knows except for MS. Do I agree with the EU on this yes & no. Yes because I think everyone should be able to turn on their computer & use Windows knowing their privacy is not being intruded on. No because when we install Windows 10 or if buying a new system you have to agree a couple times to service policies MS wants you to say yes to. So by doing that you are actually agreeing for MS to do this type of thing. If you do not want to agree then say no and turn off the computer send it back or install another OS on it. I know it sounds harsh and we all know almost everyone does not read the terms of service before checking agree but they are there for a reason.

    I do think MS and other software companies are taking way to many liberties with our privacy these days but welcome to the online internet age where everyone airs their dirty laundry on FB or Twitter or whatever other social media service there is so I guess in a sense all these companies now take privacy for a given that you will just agree with it. In this internet age if you want full privacy the only way to fully get it is to turn off your internet but is that actually an option I think not.