> I don't understand why people have such a big privacy issue with this. It all happens on your device.
For now. It's not hard to predict that, sooner or later, Microsoft will want to send that information to be processed somewhere in the cloud (and of course, they will say that it's encrypted in transit, and will never be shared with anyone else...)
There's also a more fundamental issue: absent explicit recording, we treat everything that's output to the screen and speakers as ephemeral. Recording everything by default changes that paradigm. It's like having a hidden camera permanently recording on your bedroom: it's a place where we expect privacy.
> You shouldn't expect privacy on public or work computers. For all you know, they could already be doing this.
They could, but they shouldn't. It's like a hotel room: for all we know, it could have a hidden camera permanently recording everything that happens in it, but we still consider it a serious privacy violation when that actually happens.
> And if your laptop is stolen and they have your passwords, you're fucked anyways.
My laptop being stolen doesn't currently mean that the thief can know exactly what my screen was showing a couple of weeks ago.
>> There's also a more fundamental issue: absent explicit recording, we treat everything that's output to the screen and speakers as ephemeral.
This is very much like why it feels quite different to have automated license plate readers tracking and recording where your car has been - even though that is clearly public and visible by the fact that your car is driving down public roads.
> It's not hard to predict that, sooner or later, Microsoft will want to send that information to be processed somewhere in the cloud
I really don't believe that. It reminds me of the hysteria about Windows 10 telemetry (remember when people called it a keylogger?). Putting it in the cloud would cause huge backlash and brand damage. But somehow they're getting that backlash despite not putting it in the cloud.
> absent explicit recording, we treat everything that's output to the screen and speakers as ephemeral
Computer forensics experts would like a word. Your past activity has never been private from "yourself". The added privacy risk here is highly marginal. If I steal someone's laptop, I can Rewind and see what was in a PowerPoint slide they opened 2 weeks ago. But that PowerPoint is almost certainly still on the local drive anyway, so that makes no difference.
You can also rewind and see their whole banking workflow. Or you can rewind and see that they like people of the same sex and that's a death penalty in some place, etc....
I think it would be more likely that they would process it locally and let it extract lots of info at -your- expense and then upload that info,probably would result in 1000x less processing and storage expense. Also a lot of people are overlooking that we in the USA are facing an election in 6 months that could easily be the end of democracy in America and rise of an era of fascism where privacy means absolutely zero. Thus, we failed to think of the consequences of not voting/standing up for liberty and will pay a heavy price.
For now. It's not hard to predict that, sooner or later, Microsoft will want to send that information to be processed somewhere in the cloud (and of course, they will say that it's encrypted in transit, and will never be shared with anyone else...)
There's also a more fundamental issue: absent explicit recording, we treat everything that's output to the screen and speakers as ephemeral. Recording everything by default changes that paradigm. It's like having a hidden camera permanently recording on your bedroom: it's a place where we expect privacy.
> You shouldn't expect privacy on public or work computers. For all you know, they could already be doing this.
They could, but they shouldn't. It's like a hotel room: for all we know, it could have a hidden camera permanently recording everything that happens in it, but we still consider it a serious privacy violation when that actually happens.
> And if your laptop is stolen and they have your passwords, you're fucked anyways.
My laptop being stolen doesn't currently mean that the thief can know exactly what my screen was showing a couple of weeks ago.