I'm a little surprised they risked this. Someone is likely using Office in healthcare with personal information in those documents. That would mean Microsoft is violating HIPAA.
I kiillllled Microsloth 10 years ago. Just one too many idiotic horrors. Linux now. It's easy, works well, and does not wreck your laptop or sneak like this.
One more time. F*@% Mocrosoft, destroyer of productivity and privacy
1: If you put it on a computer, the company behind the computer is reading it. This is what Recall is for. Just imagine a Microsoft Minder, North-Korea style, hovering over your shoulder for all your online activity.
2: If you click the opt-out button, it's most likely "the company pretends it doesn't have your data, and you pretend to believe them". It's long been an (admittedly unsubstantiated) belief of mine that getting the privacy settings to be what YOU want them to be is a placebo the company offers you, any blowback they get will be one decade away and a pittance of a fine, so there's no disincentive.
3: People will eventually start sharing less and the hoovers will starve themselves, then re-train on old data plus AI outputs and poison themselves. That's not this quarter's problem, so it's not a problem.
Please write soon about the dumbing down of browsers with generative language models. I think we all understand entropy. It doesn't just play out in the physical world. It also plays out in any dynamic structure.
As far as I could find, there is no mention in Microsoft docs of scraping the content of documents or using it to train AI for these "optional experiences". It mentions services like Bing, Loop and the Office store.
I'm a little surprised they risked this. Someone is likely using Office in healthcare with personal information in those documents. That would mean Microsoft is violating HIPAA.
That’s what windows 11 was built for
I kiillllled Microsloth 10 years ago. Just one too many idiotic horrors. Linux now. It's easy, works well, and does not wreck your laptop or sneak like this.
One more time. F*@% Mocrosoft, destroyer of productivity and privacy
This is true even on Macs! I just unchecked it on my Outlook by going to “Outlook” -> “Settings” -> “Privacy”
In PowerPoint they call it “Preferences” instead of “Settings” 🤦🏽♂️
Calling these things "optional connected experiences" is clearly obfuscatory.
Thank you. I am in healthcare and didn't know this. I only recently started using Word. Ick!
1: If you put it on a computer, the company behind the computer is reading it. This is what Recall is for. Just imagine a Microsoft Minder, North-Korea style, hovering over your shoulder for all your online activity.
2: If you click the opt-out button, it's most likely "the company pretends it doesn't have your data, and you pretend to believe them". It's long been an (admittedly unsubstantiated) belief of mine that getting the privacy settings to be what YOU want them to be is a placebo the company offers you, any blowback they get will be one decade away and a pittance of a fine, so there's no disincentive.
3: People will eventually start sharing less and the hoovers will starve themselves, then re-train on old data plus AI outputs and poison themselves. That's not this quarter's problem, so it's not a problem.
Thanks for the info.
Please write soon about the dumbing down of browsers with generative language models. I think we all understand entropy. It doesn't just play out in the physical world. It also plays out in any dynamic structure.
i actually warned about this in an earlier substack on enshittification. I said it should be Google’s biggest fear.
oh goodness that's awful
Thanks, Gary, for keeping us up on all of this! It is infuriating!
We are being extracted just like any other mining operation. I will not be told otherwise.
Individuals don't stand a chance against big tech. Only governments can rein them in.
alas, governments (esp US) probably won’t do squat unless citizens organize. see my book for some of why.
Welcome to the Age of Technofeudalism.
https://www.wired.com/story/yanis-varoufakis-technofeudalism-interview/
As far as I could find, there is no mention in Microsoft docs of scraping the content of documents or using it to train AI for these "optional experiences". It mentions services like Bing, Loop and the Office store.
In what are they basing this claim?
the only discussion i have seen with Microsoft was hopelessly vague as to what was covered..
I await clarification from them.
The vagueness and obfuscation will continue until it hits a wall. As in, the Berlin Wall. My people have lived through this, but in reverse.