It also breaks a ton of non related features if you turn it off
Only a multi-billion dollar company can provide this kind of service. Incredible. /s
Hey Copilot, remove everything related to Microsoft Edge.
Ok. Removing Everything.
screen goes black
You know I can’t let you do that, Dave
Screen goes black
Apartment starts shaking
Void starts forming and devouring everything
Entire universe is deleted from existence
“It was all Microsoft Edge?”
“Always has been.”
So, if it’s on by default and then you turn it off, do they delete all the data they stole from you while you were trying to get to the setting?
No, but they’ll turn it ON again with next update…
Hahaha. “Off.”
I find this kind of thing particularly questionable because I like many people am often dealing with documents and text which I do not have the right to share with anybody even if I wanted to.
I’m pretty sure Microsoft doesn’t get to see everything you write or draw in office
I am sure all the financial institutions and medical organizations are verrrrrry thrilled about this.
I noticed via the link from another comment that “work” and “schools” can turn it off - though not exactly easily.
Are we heading for a situation like smart TVs, where individuals are wrapped in the net of data collection but companies can pay extra to not be spied on - so they don’t kick up enough of a fuss or stop using the vendor.
Well I’m neither “work” nor a “school”, I’m sort of like a freelancer so I’m using my personal copy.
Then FEED THE AI!
Or dig through all the settings yourself to turn it off.
Why not call spade a spade. It is Piracy setting not Privacy setting. How come when big corporations pirate it is called AI training whereas for us it is stealing.
Because they own the lawmakers.
that gives a bad name to piracy.
If you use Microsoft office for work stuff, how do they get away with this? I get that they can violate your rights as an individual because fuck the consumer you peons don’t get representation from your government representatives, but when you’re working for some other company which has its own ton of lawyers and you use this product, how is Microsoft not getting their shit sued out of them?
That can be controlled by group policy for corporate installations
Of course it can be. But what if you don’t do that. It’s then just totally fine for Microsoft to gank your IP? Like that’s totally legal and will stand up in court?
Or what if some employee fucks with their settings? Sure you can fire the employee but what about the IP Microsoft now has? It’s all good for them to use that?
Same if I just print out a bunch of documents, walk into Microsoft’s offices and hand it to them. Sure my company can fire me, maybe even sue me. But that doesn’t make the IP suddenly fair game. Even by just looking at it, Microsoft could potentially open themselves up to legal trouble.
So I don’t see how any of this is legal.
They mentioned it in the agreement and gave you the ability to turn it off company wide. If you wanted to protect your IP you should have used Linux 🤷♂️
This isn’t about protecting your IP. This is about the incredibly shaky legal ground Microsoft is standing on by making it the default to slurp up all your files.
I feel an EU lawsuit incoming.
The files are the IP.
Yup, and Microsoft just takes copies of those files by default. The legality of which is dubious at best.
It’s manageable through GPO and off by default in Enterprise and Education like the other unconscionable shit I guess.
Or maybe the guys in the company doing the gpo’s need to update their certification so they learn this shit…
Just guessing, I’m a Linux guy in a Linux company. Maybe the way I worded the comment was disingenuous, but when Microsoft is so unethical I am using the “to quoque” logical fallacy to justify it
I was once one of those Microsoft guys with 2000 certs, and I’m not gonna lie, I liked working with MS stuff.
It’s usually inane, stupid and expensive shit on the one hand. But they were wasting company time and company money. I also worked in the banking sector, so it’s not like we would have been making the world a better place if it was more efficient.
Certs gamified the whole work environment. The whole thing is that they are not that hard to get if you get into it, it’s kind of a game. However, they cost a fuckton to get and maintain, but if you are in a good place, that’s on the company as well. Actually, the company is paying to make you more valuable to it, so that’s nice.
And since everything is so fucking inefficient, other departments will be moving at a sloth’s pace as well, so if you are half-decent at automation, and you can get a WFH job, most of your workday is basically playing video games.
I’m not familiar with to quoque. How is that pronounced. Kuocue? Cock?
I miss spelled it it’s tu not to
Pronounced too-kwoh-kwe
It’s a word I can only remember having read, but I checked YouTube, and that’s what the thumbnail said (didn’t see the video, my kids are sleeping)
Yeah I think at this point it’s really just on the company - why are you still using such an untrustworthy piece of software?
I’m sure it’s disabled at hospitals by default to prevent exporting protected patient information. Right?
I work in government. We have third-party IT services, and we’re legally required to take the lowest bid.
They can’t handle setting up an email address without fucking up 19 times. There’s no way they’ll be disabling this for the whole city, so we’re going to be illegally sharing information because it’s the default setting.
That setting and Microsoft’s “Connected Experiences” predate the current AI nonsense. Here’s a list of connected experiences the OneNote app sent me to when I tapped “Learn More”. It’s all stuff that does some degree of analysis on your data, so somebody probably thought treating AI as a “connected experience” made sense.
…wow
We word with government data that can never be touched by third parties, can never leave the country either. We take great care with that
Also: Government here stores most of its in Microsoft services…
They’ll just turn it back on with an update in a couple weeks.
only microsoft would nest “Trust Center Settings” in the “Options -> Trust Center” panel. or even worse, put “Privacy Settings” as a sub-menu of “Privacy Options”.
But FOSS has bad UX!!!
There was literally a movie about this, the evil corp resembled Microsoft, right down to a Bill Gates lookalike CEO. Miguel de Icasa was in it with Ryan Phillips
Antitrust (2001) staring Ryan Phillippe
Thank you, yes, I’m learning to hate autocorrect …
Phillippe.
I swear I can raad
It was an accurate spelling for pronunciation at least!
I literally went and watched the trailer and saw the mistake and still completely dyslexiaed it up
Just click this setting! … at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’
Why would you pay this much money to be treated this badly?
Haha…pay
It’s not JUST that. I’ve had to disable it in the past for something, can’t remember what. Something had broken. But that’s why it’s not called AI services.
Why they don’t separate it into different options I don’t know. Or rather it’s obvious.
Why they don’t separate it into different options I don’t know.
Because they don’t want you turning it off. I seriously doubt they’ll actually let you turn it off.
Is this relevant for Europe?
Probably not
Are they not allowed to do it for users in Europe?
EU has consumer protections miles ahead of the US. Sometimes Americans get good things from it anyway. Example from just today - my wife’s iPhone began working with RCS format so now we can send photos to each other without them looking like shit. We were using Whatsapp for photos.
Why not just use signal like adults?
I have only managed to get one friend on signal. I got my wife on Whatsapp before signal existed (and before Facebook owned Whatsapp) for traveling outside the country, and now she won’t switch.
Americans overwhelmingly use SMS (RCS) for everything. And Facebook Messenger 🤮. I refuse to install that even though I’m sure Whatsapp isn’t any better by now.
Nah, on android Whatsapp can’t even be used without giving access to all your contacts. Pretty much unusable :(
I ended up just giving up the friends who wouldn’t spend 60 seconds of their lives to install an app to talk to me. Those kinds of people may be worth it to some but not me.
you can just sext in pixels. I assume you know what each other look like. : )
I wish that were the case. I travel often for work so we send a lot of photos.
Does this also apply on Word/Excel on macOS?
Go check and let us know!
It does but it’s in a very different spot! Preferences -> Privacy -> Turn on optional connected experiences