{"id":9927,"date":"2015-08-13T12:05:10","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T16:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=9927"},"modified":"2015-08-13T20:56:50","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T00:56:50","slug":"a-privacy-advocate-gives-you-the-facts-about-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/a-privacy-advocate-gives-you-the-facts-about-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"A Privacy Advocate Gives You the Facts About Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Privacy Advocate Gives You the Facts About Windows 10<\/strong><\/h1>\n

For everyone using Windows 10 or thinking about upgrading to Windows 10<\/em><\/h2>\n

It’s a bad situation when misinformation rules so much of the Web. Not many cared about Windows 8 because it was such a flop. But Windows 10 is being adopted at a record rate – there are more Windows 10 users after just over 2 weeks since its release than there are Windows 8x user – and it’s been available for over 2 years. Success is like a target, it draws arrows. There is a lot of money to be made by scaring people. We’re about tired of bloggers and journalists, alarmists and conspiracy theorists, scaring people with misinformation and using spin, not facts, to make Windows 10 look like a tool of the NSA. It’s not – but every day someone sends us a link from some news site or some blogger who has scared them into sharing the link to the article with everyone they know…and that is exactly what these alarmists want. They use spin to take the most benign things and turn it into a tool of the devil – or maybe even worse — the NSA.<\/p>\n

We are not Microsoft lovers – but we’re not Microsoft haters; we like facts and we love the truth. And the truth is what Microsoft is doing what Apple has been doing for years and years. Nothing worse. Yet you don’t see anyone writing about Apple reading your email and collecting your data and being the next worst thing to the NSA. You know why? It’s not cool to attack Apple – like it’s not cool to attack Starbucks or Panera or Chipotle — the cool places and the cool computer company are almost sacred to their fans and no one wants to upset them. But Microsoft? It’s been a punching back since Windows XP. Yes…when XP was released there was a furor over how XP was stealing your privacy. But that died out and XP went on to become the most beloved and the most popular version of Windows ever. Now it looks like Microsoft has another hit with Windows 10 and some people just can’t stand that.<\/p>\n

The truth is that Microsoft isn’t do anything new at all. Apple and Google have been doing it with their operating systems for years. It’s really hard to find the truth about Windows 10 out there right now, but this article from Lifehacker is based on fact. You’ll learn a lot about Windows 10 from it – and you’ll learn that what we have been telling you all along is true: Microsoft is not in cahoots with the NSA and they are not reading your emails or stealing your personal information or data.<\/p>\n

We hope you read this article by Lifehacker. If you do you’ll learn a lot and you’ll learn not to help the alarmists and conspiracy theorists and bloggers and journalist who use scare tactics to get you to read what they write and share what they write by email or social networking.<\/p>\n

I’m a Privacy Advocate, but I Still Use Windows 10 and Google Now <\/a>
\n<\/strong>(from LIfehacker, August 13, 2015)<\/p>\n

“Privacy is important, and we should fight for it. I\u2019ve said that many times. But when Windows 10 launched, I welcomed Cortana despite some concerns from privacy activists. It sounds hypocritical, but it\u2019s an easy disconnect to resolve, once you understand how privacy works as currency. Here\u2019s how I continue to advocate for a safer, privacy-focused Internet and still use these awesome free tools.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that advertising is the juice in the engine of the internet today. Along with advertising, and the economies built on the back of getting ads in front of your face (of which this blog is included,) is the massive data trade that happens behind the scenes. The ability to collect information about you to make sure those ads are relevant and interesting to you\u2014products you might actually like or want to buy\u2014is serious. It\u2019s made blinking banner ads for low-rate loans a thing of the past, replaced with dynamic Amazon ads that show you products you\u2019ve searched for, or related to items you\u2019ve purchased.<\/em><\/p>\n

After all, personalized ads are, after all, better than random, intrusive, and irrelevant ones, right? But that\u2019s not enough. Getting ads in front of you that you don\u2019t mind seeing is only part of the battle. The rest is convincing you that the information you give up is a small price to pay for those ads, not for any actual service or product delivered.<\/p>\n

See that distinction? You\u2019re trading away your privacy for nothing but the right to see relevant ads. And yet, people swallow that logic. They even trot it out as a defense when questioned.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another side to this too\u2014when you block ads completely and blacklist everything, you\u2019re saying \u201cyou don\u2019t get anything from me, but I\u2019m going to take everything from you.\u201d It\u2019s similarly problematic, because it encourages the arms race between the companies eager to hoover up your data and the privacy technologies designed to protect you. It\u2019s also the reason your favorite content creators, YouTubers, webcomic authors, and yes, humble bloggers beg you to whitelist them in your ad blocker so they can get paid for the work they do.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is we\u2019ve been conditioned to believe that our data has no value. We\u2019re getting these services \u201cfor free.\u201d You\u2019ve heard it before: \u201cWell Facebook\/Google\/Apple\/Microsoft\/[insert company] gives it away, so stop complaining.\u201d That limited definition of \u201cfree\u201d keeps us from understanding the real exchange we make when we use \u201cfree\u201d services. Just because your data seems to have no value (especially when aggregated with others) doesn\u2019t mean it doesn\u2019t. If it were truly worthless, advertisers wouldn\u2019t want it, and they wouldn\u2019t be willing to essentially pay the salaries of developers, bloggers, DBAs, data scientists, \u201cgrowth hackers,\u201d and PR pros to get it. Keep that in mind the next time you sign up for something that\u2019s \u201cfree,\u201d whether it\u2019s that Windows 10 upgrade, the upcoming El Capitan upgrade for OS X, or even something like an email newsletter.<\/p>\n

Your Privacy (and Your Data) Is Currency, So Spend It Wisely<\/em><\/p>\n

In a perfect world, privacy would be an opt-out experience instead of an opt-in one. Put more simply: I wish companies would operate from a position of privacy by default, and only intrude on it when necessary, and after your consent. Of course, we don\u2019t live in a perfect world. Most services say \u201csign up now for awesome benefits\u201d and (often purposefully) obfuscate the compromises you make when you join the club. In some cases it\u2019s innocuous, like the number of friends or followers you have when you install a new Twitter app. In others, it\u2019s more invasive, like real-time location tracking for a smartphone game, or access to your entire inbox for an anti-spam tool.http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/what-windows-1…<\/p>\n

But both of those \u201cmore invasive\u201d examples that I just mentioned? They\u2019re awesome tools in their own right, and I actually use them both. When Windows 10 came out, many (rightfully) brought up the privacy implications of a desktop operating system that\u2019s always connected, includes a personal assistant that records your voice, and gives itself permission to capture a ton of data and send it home to Microsoft. We discussed similar concerns when OS X Yosemite came out. And Google Now and Siri got the same treatment, after they asked for constant access to our emails, location, and apps, and sending our data back to their parent companies. We were\u2014and are\u2014concerned with how long those companies keep that data, and what else it might be used for.http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/lets-talk-abou…<\/p>\n

So how do I live with myself and still happily use Windows 10 on one computer, Yosemite on another, and say \u201cOkay Google Now\u201d every time I need to set a reminder? Well, it starts with understanding that \u201cprivacy,\u201d and \u201cpersonal data\u201d are essentially currency in today\u2019s Internet economy. In all of these cases, I\u2019m trading away bits of information for services that I feel give me some return on the value of the information I\u2019m giving up. In short, I\u2019m \u201cbuying\u201d Windows 10, \u201cpaying for\u201d Google Now, and \u201csubscribing to\u201d Unroll.me. Instead of opening my wallet, I\u2019m paying in information. It\u2019s not a perfect tradeoff, but it\u2019s one I go into with both eyes open.<\/p>\n

Make Educated, Intelligent Decisions About How You \u201cSpend\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Now that you understand your privacy is currency, you should spend it where it matters to you. Spend it where you get the most benefit for making the trade, and do it consciously after deciding whether the benefit you\u2019ll get from the exchange is worth it…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Excerpted from I’m a Privacy Advocate, but I Still Use Windows 10 and Google Now<\/em><\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/lifehacker.com\/im-a-privacy-advocate-but-i-still-use-windows-10-and-g-1723611163?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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A Privacy Advocate Gives You the Facts About Windows 10 For everyone using Windows 10 or thinking about upgrading to Windows 10 It’s a bad situation when misinformation rules so much of the Web. Not many cared about Windows 8 because it was such a flop. But Windows 10 is being adopted at a record rate – there\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9927"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9930,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9927\/revisions\/9930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}