Big brother watching through Vista

I've heard about Vista sending reports of your information to Microsoft.
First off, what exactly do they know? Can they read your documents, look at your saved pictures and check the authenticity of your music files? Or is it more just 'He visited this site. He downloaded something.' What exactly are the privacy issues with it?
If they are a little too intrusive, is there a way around it?
I know I may seem paranoid, but especially when spending so much on a computer, I like my privacy. I won't even start on the political aspects of my thinking.

 

The only thing MS sends to MS without really asking, to my knowledge, is your activation information to be sure your license in genuine. This is done periodically so they can lock you out if your license becomes pirated in the future...

The other stuff, like crash reports, they pop up a question asking you if they can send additional information that may contain your data...

MS doesn't have the time or profit motive to look at every website you visit and every document you type and every porn movie you watch. What benefit would come to them? They don't pop up ads in Vista based on this information (like Google does with GMail) nor could they make a useful amount of money selling the information. As they would need data farms 100x or more bigger than Google just to store that type of information on the hundreds of millions of Windows users...

 

Well of course that the only real watcher here is the US government which has build it access capabilities, but who the hell cares about your pictures, movies and such? I for one don't feel scared, because I know they're not going to pay interest in my computer. I'm not a terrorist, nor I believe that Patriot Act is a bad law or even think that George W. Bush and his father make one happy retarded family. That's all folks!

 

Oh, so I've just heard rumors then pretty much? That would be a lot easier than putting another OS on it. So it's basically no different from XP in this way?

 

No, you haven't heard rumors. Any security software sold in the US is forced to respect Patriot Act, which means the developers have to code a door for the US government to get in. No software is spared of this treatment (usually they don't do it with open source software, since that is easier to crack than a closed source piece of code). That includes firewalls, operating systems, router software, etc.

 

I understand how they would put things like that in place, but Vista itself doesn't 'automatically' send your information out? Other than the activation info

 

No, it doesn't. It used to, but it was a bug and Microsoft fixed it in their first batch of updates (at the end of January/beginning of February).

 

If you have any actual information to back this up, produce it. Otherwise stop spreading crap around that is most certainly not true.

 

I have proof and so can you. You'll just have to look. Don't believe me, that's fine. I'm not here to spread crap. Anyway, you could also read my posts and see if I'm trustworthy or not. I can't prove it like you can't prove me wrong. I have this information from a trusted source working for the US Gov. Take it or leave it, fine by me. There are also rumors about Microsoft using Windows Time to get some information about your computer. Not sure about the content, but I've found this. It is not a verified source. I also know that a specific company developing a firewall was forced to add a way for the US Gov. to infiltrate computers having that firewall installed.

 

When making such huge accusations, you must provide substantial proof in the form of some type of references. Until then, "just trust me" is completely worthless.

So where is your proof? Show it.

 

I never said you should trust me. I don't care if you trust me or not. I just said what I had to say. If you don't believe me, that's fine by me. I will try to look for some documentation on this, but not now, because I have to wake up early tomorrow.
The thing is that it is normal. Why? Because nobody at the Gov. wants to spend time cracking a computer when they could just simply use a backdoor. With all the terrorism confusion in the US they kind of hit the sweet spot with the PA.
I'm not saying this could be a great article, but it exists. Although I hate Softpedia they wrote this article. This is an interesting post about the EULA. I can find stuff, but it's not quite that 100% backed up proof. Anyone can write something, so I don't think I can convince a non-believer about this. There are various references here about the Patriot Act, but again, not 100% trustworthy. And I'm not being ironic, I just don't feel like getting into this without some little documentation, but I also don't feel like getting into this just to prove someone unwilling to take it into consideration without an official paper from Microsoft. Like I said, I'm not writing this to convince people, I'm writing it just because I feel it is right to do so.

 

I will wait to see your evidence. Until then, I will take your comments as those of a raving conspiracy theorist, with no weight or credibility at all. If you prove me wrong, then I will concede.

 

Refresh. I'm not into conspiracies, but I'm also not blind. I'm sure you woun't find what I posted as a proof, but...who the **** cares? Anyway, just edited to say that I like your own here. PM if want to continue on a subjective matter.

 

WE'RE onto you Cheney- you bastard! [Raises middle finger] AHAHAHAHA-ehh?

Hey how'd you guys get in here?! I SHALL NOT BE SILENCED! I SHALL NOT BE-
HMMMPH!!! [ muffled by a damp ether rag and dragged away]

 

I really hate Bush because he's a moron, but this has nothing to do with the matter, nor does Cheney.

 

i'm pushing for ron paul myself

zeitgeist is a cool documentary. i don't know how much of it is 100% true, but its scary if it is

but before i get people in trouble over politics (at least its not religion this time) thanks for the info. i was going to do away with vista completely before you told me the reports weren't a problem anymore. thank you