Windows 11 new "recall" feature spying on users

Hi everyone,

Microsoft just announced that they will be launching a new feature in windows 11 called "recall", this will take a snapshot of your desktop every 5 seconds.

source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/retrace-your-steps-with-recall-aa03f8a0-a78b-4b3e-b0a1-2eb8ac48701c

source: https://www.windowslatest.com/2024/05/21/microsoft-details-windows-11-recall-ai-privacy-security-it-records-screen/

This means that all your activity is recorded and who knows what microsoft is planning to do with this information.

Are they going to sell it to third parties?

Are they going to share that information with governments?

You'll be able to turn this off but how can anyone know for sure it's off? And what about all the people who will have this on and don't even know about it? This will probably be on by default without the user's consent.

We just can't know what they will do with this but knowing microsoft they will definitely abuse it.

What if they get hacked or what if you're own pc gets hacked. Now microsoft or a hacker can steal your identity, has your bank information and has all your account logins and passwords.

I don't know about all of you but I'm fuming, this is such a gross violation of users privacy and security by microsoft. This is completely unacceptable!

I'm asking the bitdefender team to create and add a feature to the bitdefender total security that will not only completely disable this "windows recall" by default but also have the option to completely delete "windows recall" from your pc.

Thx

Find more posts tagged with

windows

spyware

hacking

Comments

Scott

Interesting post @Petersl. It does look like it's only for Windows 11, and that you have to meet certain hardware requirements.

https://www.windowslatest.com/2024/05/20/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-recall-ai-hardware-requirements/

And that you can also disable it. Taken from your 2nd link:

You can clear all snapshots and reboot Recall. You can also clear some snapshots. Or you can entirely disable Recall.

So I think we'll be fine and not a feature that needs to be added to the BD Windows apps?

Petersl

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339228#Comment_339228

Even that you can disable it, microsoft can just turn it back on with an update. There's no sure way of knowing if microsoft will even respect the users choice to turn it off.

I don't know about you but I sure don't trust microsoft so if there would be a feature in bitdefender total security to make sure it's off and even make it impossible for microsoft to turn it back on that be great.

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339229#Comment_339229

lol…isn't that the truth. Even that you can disable it, microsoft can just turn it back on with an update.

And a person can go and disable a lot of the Privacy settings, and Windows may enable them back on with an update. Linux Cinnamon Mint…here I come :) :)

Petersl

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339231#Comment_339231

Yea like windows users need yet an other reason to switch to linux.

Alexandru_BD

Interesting post, yes. 👍️

From what I could find on the web, according to their privacy policy, everything happens locally. "Recall" will be available on new "Copilot+" PCs running Windows 11. These devices are expected to have enhanced AI capabilities, likely supported by dedicated hardware such as Neural Processing Units (NPUs) or similar AI accelerators. The rollout is anticipated to start with select models, with broader availability over time as more manufacturers adopt the "Copilot+" branding and integrate the necessary hardware.

As with any AI-powered feature, especially one that involves personal data and activity tracking, there are potential privacy concerns. I think there are some key points to consider here:

To provide its functionality, "Recall" will need to collect and process data about your activities. This includes which applications you use, documents you work on, websites you visit, and possibly more detailed interaction data. The data used by "Recall" may be stored locally on your device or sent to Microsoft's servers for processing, especially if it requires cloud-based AI capabilities. It's essential to understand where and how your data is stored and processed. Microsoft typically includes privacy controls that allow users to manage how their data is used. You should be able to adjust settings related to "Recall" to control what information is collected and how it is used.

I think they will need to ensure transparency about what data is being collected and how it is used to build trust among users who are skeptical about such a feature. Clear communication through privacy policies and user agreements will be crucial, in my opinion.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339253#Comment_339253

To be honest, being an inbuilt feature of Windows OS, Bitdefender can hardly do anything since it cannot make changes to the OS.

Regards

Alexandru_BD

Yeah, not much it can do here, I guess.

Petersl

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339272#Comment_339272

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339273#Comment_339273

Could bitdefender not add a feature that gives you the option of disabling the windows spying and telemetry like you can do with the app "O & O shutup" and donotspy11?

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339276#Comment_339276

I'm familiar with O&O ShutUp, and it does a very nice job at enabling/disabling Windows privacy etc settings. Let's see if even they eventually include it? Otherwise, let's let BD be predominantly a AV with some nice bonus features being more stable, rather than a "utility" software :)