Telemetry Data and Privacy
I don't get how people can be so dense.
I wish I had the link still. But I read an article the other day which somewhat tried to dismiss Windows 10 concerns by saying many of Microsoft moves are about security and not privacy which is why things like storing encryption keys in OneDrive and telemetry data are a somewhat ok trade-off. I'll agree that MS is prioritizing security. But the concession that telemetry data violates your privacy doesn't sit well.
If this was the only occurrence of this belief that telemetry data is somehow violating privacy I wouldn't make a stink of it. Telemetry data IS NOT inherently a privacy concern. If it is anonymized and aggregated then privacy does not enter into the equation.
[side note]
Before continuing. I'm not trying to make a stance on whether or not you should be allowed to block it regardless. I don't really care. If you wish to make that argument I hold nothing against you. I'm simply debunking the myth that collecting telemetry data inherently violates a users privacy.
[/side note]
Telemetry data (going forward, unless otherwise stated, I'm referring to the anonymized and aggregated form that companies like Microsoft use) does not contain personal information. It is not even stored with or associated in any way with other data collected from you. It exposes nothing about you, it doesn't link back to you. As far as personal information goes, it is useless.
In the strictest sense, yes the term privacy implies control over information you generate. And, in this case you may not always be able to stop the data from being collected. But, if you think that matters you are disillusioned. Also, I think privacy inherently implies protecting information about you. In most cases all "data" we "generate" is "about us", so it is hard to wrap our minds around this I think, but it is inherently true.
Consider this scenario: I go a the store, conceal my face/identity, pay in unmarked bills and leave in an untraceable vehicle without ever speaking a word.
Would I consider my privacy to be violated or even violate-able in any sense? Probably not. I certainly generated a ton of data in the act, but nothing which betrays me personally. The store owner can still gather telemetry data. They know that someone came in the store. They know the time you came in. The amount of time spent. What you purchased. How much you paid. Your chosen method of payment. And, they may even know that all of those data points originated from a single person.
This is exactly the sort of data Microsoft collects. Only, unlike the information above, all of those data points aren't even necessarily linked back to a single point of origin. So, even though it is the same sort of data collected, it is less invasive than that simple scenario.
People somehow think telemetry data is some magical and malicious thing. The reality is that every observable action can produce telemetry data. Whether or not that data can and is being associated with you is the distinction between whether or not your privacy is being violated.
What makes it easy to target telemetry data is that Microsoft (and other companies) cannot observe directly how people interact with their products and so need to have their software send it to them. In a world growing borderline schizophrenic about digital data this is seen as taboo. There is also a lack of trust. Companies usage of this data is governed by their privacy agreements. If they do something against those contracts they can be sued. It doesn't help that the paranoia is fed by people who refuse the read the entire policy or read portions out of context and make overblown claims about the company can or is receiving in terms of data.
The last of the unforgiveable follies is the claim that Microsoft MUST either currently be, or endeavoring to collect personal information to monetize just as surely as Facebook and Google have. This is gross incompetence. Facebook and Google has something in common which Microsoft doesn't which sort of necessitates this. They give their products and services away for free. Microsoft on the other hand has multiple, well established revenue streams. Everything from hardware to licenses to services. Microsoft is much more like Apple.
That difference is important. Google and Facebook and many other sites/companies that give their primary products and services away for free generally "subsidize" that cost with advertising revenue. Sure, they can also use that data as telemetry data, but that is because their privacy policies enable them to collect what amounts to a superset of what telemetry data allows. To keep that revenue stream strong they need to collect personal data so that they can target the ads better.
Companies like Apple and Microsoft make little to nothing off of advertising revenue streams and their pure telemetry doesn't give them enough information to sell targeted ads any better. And they don't want more. More data compromises their promises to their customers and since their revenue stream is their products and services they need that data to continue to improve them so that consumers will continue to buy them. Violating your privacy will only hurt them.
I wish I had the link still. But I read an article the other day which somewhat tried to dismiss Windows 10 concerns by saying many of Microsoft moves are about security and not privacy which is why things like storing encryption keys in OneDrive and telemetry data are a somewhat ok trade-off. I'll agree that MS is prioritizing security. But the concession that telemetry data violates your privacy doesn't sit well.
If this was the only occurrence of this belief that telemetry data is somehow violating privacy I wouldn't make a stink of it. Telemetry data IS NOT inherently a privacy concern. If it is anonymized and aggregated then privacy does not enter into the equation.
[side note]
Before continuing. I'm not trying to make a stance on whether or not you should be allowed to block it regardless. I don't really care. If you wish to make that argument I hold nothing against you. I'm simply debunking the myth that collecting telemetry data inherently violates a users privacy.
[/side note]
Telemetry data (going forward, unless otherwise stated, I'm referring to the anonymized and aggregated form that companies like Microsoft use) does not contain personal information. It is not even stored with or associated in any way with other data collected from you. It exposes nothing about you, it doesn't link back to you. As far as personal information goes, it is useless.
In the strictest sense, yes the term privacy implies control over information you generate. And, in this case you may not always be able to stop the data from being collected. But, if you think that matters you are disillusioned. Also, I think privacy inherently implies protecting information about you. In most cases all "data" we "generate" is "about us", so it is hard to wrap our minds around this I think, but it is inherently true.
Consider this scenario: I go a the store, conceal my face/identity, pay in unmarked bills and leave in an untraceable vehicle without ever speaking a word.
Would I consider my privacy to be violated or even violate-able in any sense? Probably not. I certainly generated a ton of data in the act, but nothing which betrays me personally. The store owner can still gather telemetry data. They know that someone came in the store. They know the time you came in. The amount of time spent. What you purchased. How much you paid. Your chosen method of payment. And, they may even know that all of those data points originated from a single person.
This is exactly the sort of data Microsoft collects. Only, unlike the information above, all of those data points aren't even necessarily linked back to a single point of origin. So, even though it is the same sort of data collected, it is less invasive than that simple scenario.
People somehow think telemetry data is some magical and malicious thing. The reality is that every observable action can produce telemetry data. Whether or not that data can and is being associated with you is the distinction between whether or not your privacy is being violated.
What makes it easy to target telemetry data is that Microsoft (and other companies) cannot observe directly how people interact with their products and so need to have their software send it to them. In a world growing borderline schizophrenic about digital data this is seen as taboo. There is also a lack of trust. Companies usage of this data is governed by their privacy agreements. If they do something against those contracts they can be sued. It doesn't help that the paranoia is fed by people who refuse the read the entire policy or read portions out of context and make overblown claims about the company can or is receiving in terms of data.
The last of the unforgiveable follies is the claim that Microsoft MUST either currently be, or endeavoring to collect personal information to monetize just as surely as Facebook and Google have. This is gross incompetence. Facebook and Google has something in common which Microsoft doesn't which sort of necessitates this. They give their products and services away for free. Microsoft on the other hand has multiple, well established revenue streams. Everything from hardware to licenses to services. Microsoft is much more like Apple.
That difference is important. Google and Facebook and many other sites/companies that give their primary products and services away for free generally "subsidize" that cost with advertising revenue. Sure, they can also use that data as telemetry data, but that is because their privacy policies enable them to collect what amounts to a superset of what telemetry data allows. To keep that revenue stream strong they need to collect personal data so that they can target the ads better.
Companies like Apple and Microsoft make little to nothing off of advertising revenue streams and their pure telemetry doesn't give them enough information to sell targeted ads any better. And they don't want more. More data compromises their promises to their customers and since their revenue stream is their products and services they need that data to continue to improve them so that consumers will continue to buy them. Violating your privacy will only hurt them.
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