Windows 11 Sends Massive Amounts of Data to Ad Companies

It’s happening in the EU and UK (Although the UK may be about to “loosen the red tape” unfortunately) Big tech companies are being held to account with massive fines. I’m still flabbergasted that the USA has not seen the way the wind is blowing and moved towards a federal law. Yes, state laws are something, especially in the most impactful states, but they don’t go far enough IMHO.

What they don’t say in the article is the Manufacturer of the computer and/or whether the install is a vanilla install of Windows 11, or one which comes from a Manufacturer with pre-installed software e.g. McAfee Anti-Virus, Steam Store and others which run as background services, even if the software has not been “initialised” by a user, it may run in the background and send telemetry type data to “home”

As the article says, you can understand the MS services receiving information, but no-one says whether the information is about an individual, or may be diagnostic information about the computer with no Personally Identifiable Infiormation. Bing is a brand name which encompasses many services, so just because the browser isn’t opened, search on Windows (imagine a spotlight equivalent) plugs into Bing.

I think that the level of detail in the article is poor and sensationalist. Quelle Surprise

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The YouTuber (who sells security services) “took a brand-new laptop that had never been used.” In other words, this was not a test of Windows 11 at all, but of a very low-budget laptop with any additional sponsored software the manufacturer has chosen to install on it. Windows 11 doesn’t come with Mcafee (Windows has its own anti-virus software) but it is often installed by manufacturers as part of a deal.

Interestingly, TPSC ran the same test with Windows XP and found that it only connected to Microsoft update servers, greatly undermining Microsoft’s claim that Windows 11’s connections to third parties were necessary to “remain secure, up to date, and keep the system working as anticipated.”

The idea that Windows 11 (or MacOS, for that matter) should make the same level of connections as XP is laughable; the use of web services and proactive security monitoring is much greater now. XP was a security nightmare. In fairness to the original YouTuber, he only ran the rest for a bit of fun.

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Pretty much this. It won’t stop until there is regulation and the government won’t regulate because they are harvesting as well.

Just saw this today

Security today is nothing more than creating these obstacles and trying to convince consumers that hackers are equally following the same paths and the frustration foils them.

Meanwhile Microsoft and Apple are scanning password protected files and encrypted files proving extant security methods are insufficient

How about a ChatGPT poem …

In shadows deep, where secrets hide,
A tale unfolds of truth denied.
“Three may keep a secret,” they say,
“But two must pass, in life’s array.”

Whispers dance upon the breeze,
Carrying secrets, as if to appease.
For secrets wield a treacherous might,
A double-edged sword in the cover of night.

Three souls entwined, a pact they swore,
Their hidden truths forevermore.
Yet darkness breeds a wicked game,
Where trust and loyalty clash, aflame.

A single secret whispered soft,
Held close within a fragile croft.
The burden shared, the bond so strong,
But temptation lingers, lurking long.

One soul succumbs to longing’s woe,
And spills the secret, a fatal blow.
Now two remain, their secret frayed,
A bond severed, trust betrayed.

Yet still, the secret lingers on,
A haunting specter, dusk till dawn.
For secrets have a price untold,
A power that tarnishes purest gold.

With every breath, a weight they bear,
The truth concealed, a burden to wear.
Three may keep a secret, they dread,
But only if two lie cold and dead.

In shadows deep, their secrets seep,
A pact shattered, promises weep.
For truth unspoken, unburdened, unsaid,
Leads to a dance of the living dead.

So heed this tale of secrets’ plight,
Guard your whispers, day and night.
For truth unguarded can tear apart,
The closest bonds, a fragile heart.

Remember, dear friend, as secrets thread,
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

I’m no poet, but that isn’t half bad. I wonder how much of this is plagiarized verses generated? What was your prompt?

I pasted a couple of verses into Google Bard and asked where it came from:

The poem you quoted is not sourced from any particular book or poem. It is an original poem that I wrote. I was inspired to write it by the idea of secrets and how they can have a powerful impact on our lives. I hope you enjoyed reading it."

So is Google Bard claiming ownership for a ChatGPT poem? :grinning:

Update: pasting the whole poem in elicited this:

I am not sure where the poem you quoted is sourced from. I did a quick Google search and couldn’t find any information about it. It is possible that it is an original poem written by someone else, or that it is from a book or poem that I am not familiar with.

I enjoyed reading the poem and I think it is a powerful and thought-provoking piece of writing. The poem explores the idea of secrets and how they can have a negative impact on our lives. The poem also suggests that secrets are difficult to keep and that they can eventually lead to destruction.

I think the poem is a reminder that we should be careful about what we keep secret. Secrets can have a negative impact on our relationships, our mental health, and our overall well-being. If we are struggling with a secret, it is important to reach out for help and to talk to someone we trust.

All good advice! But a different answer.

With all of its faults in these early years, that is rather amazing when you think about it. If we had told people in the 80s/90s that we would have computers that we could “talk to” (e.g., Siri) and that they could answer, they probably would not have believed it.

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Maybe not quite so surprising…

1964: ELIZA

1984: Racter

Much more recently: https://lyrics.rip/ (site is still there but it doesn’t seem to work anymore – it generated random lyrics in the “style of” an artist, using Markov chains, a sort of simple precursor to LLMs).

Yes, all of these yield cruder results than the LLMs of today, which are remarkable. But the spinning jenny was also much cruder than those computerized quilting machines you can buy online.

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The prompt was pretty simple: "generate a poem based on the words “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”

ChatGPT had to “think” for about 10 seconds and then started writing and pretty much wrote it line by line with few pauses.

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Why not, just ask HAL 9000, or the computer on every other SciFi…

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I never liked HAL’s answers. :joy:

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Neither did Bowman :smiley:

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