 This Recall thing is a prime example of how bad we are at understanding when something is a systemic problem. It doesn't matter if *you* disable it. It doesn't matter if *you* install Linux. It doesn't matter if *you* set your computer on fire and move to a Luddite commune. If you have *ever* sent sensitive data, no matter how securely, to another person who now has this shit enabled, and they find your data and look at it, your data is compromised, and there's nothing you can do about it. 18 comments
@confluency It's only paranoia if the suspicions are unjustified. And facts show that they weren't. They aren't. @confluency I doubt they are being pressured into it (I know product managers that would be capable of introducing something this stupid). But I can guarantee that the border control and other state actors are popping Champagne. @simontoth Yeah, personally I suspect that this is organic stupidity from managers high on their own AI assistant hype fumes. But the only way to fix something like this is with legislation, and I worry that governments won't try very hard to legislate against something that's so... convenient.  @confluency That's just what The Man does. Anyone who was paying attention to the fate of RIM and the effective encryption briefly available via Blackberry devices will remember the bulldozer. Problems with collectively derived power can't have individual answers.   And this is why just blocking Threads / Meta domains from your client is a waste of time.  @electric_gumball I'm sure they're out there somewhere, but if they're *really* good, we'll never find them!  @confluency  @hobs @confluency @itgrrl I can see that in the future we are going to have to think long and hard about what data we share, with whom and by what means. I may even spool up a Solaris VM just for private stuff and another for public stuff, where I am less worried about it being scraped by M$  @confluency True, but...if you ever sent sensitive data, it can be compromised on the receiver's end already. Recall just makes it more likely than it was before. @confluency  @confluency moving to Linux helps. Of course more SSNs will be leaked with all other identifying metrics attached to it to make it easy for people to be hit with ID theft.  @confluency This is why we must curate our friends wisely and refuse to talk about anything sensitive or personal with people who still use Windows and refuse to listen  @confluency A regulated financial organisation I once knew had a stringent rule that widows users COULD NOT connect to the production system (Sun), because they were already so insecure. I and one other consultant on my team could, because we had SPARC laptops. |
Gregory's Server
I don't know if I believe the theories that Microsoft is being pressured to introduce this by state actors who want to be able to spy on us.
But it would be darkly funny if, after all our paranoia about secret back doors, The Man just rolled up with a bulldozer in broad daylight to install a *front* door, complete with a neon sign and a welcome mat.