this post was submitted on 22 May 2024

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UK watchdog looking into Microsoft AI taking screenshots (www.bbc.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

afraid it might infringe on cctv

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Hopefully they escalate it to our MPs, who certainly have plenty to worry about when it comes to not wanting others seeing what they're doing online and might actually do something to protect privacy for once.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

Microsoft says Recall, which will store encrypted snapshots locally on your computer, is exclusive to its forthcoming Copilot+ PCs.

L M A O
M
A
O

As if that's going to last. First it's local, then it's uploaded as a "backup", then it's "secretly" decrypted (hey, they have your decryption keys stored on your online account), then it's silently added to the TOS/EULA, and finally it's publicly announced, years after the majority of training data has been scraped.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What is the stated reason for this proposed function?

This is the first I've heard of this terrible and invasive idea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I haven't looked into this much, but I read in some article yesterday, that they're trying to establish these generative AI features as a selling point for Windows. In the article, there was a 10 second ad video for Recall linked, too.

And I imagine, this was somewhat of a hyperbole, but the article author claimed that Recall was the only of these generative AI feature ideas that was any good, but then torpedoed by the privacy issues.

So, yeah, that might be all there is to it. They want to shoehorn AI into there somehow, to make shareholder hype/value go up, and that was just the only real idea they had.

[+] [email protected] -13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don't know what specifically Microsoft is planning here, but in the past I've taken screenshots of my settings window and uploaded it to Copilot to ask it for help sorting out a problem. It was very useful for Copilot to be able to "see" what my settings were. Since the article describes a series of screenshots being taken over time it could perhaps be meant to provide context to an AI so that it knows what's been going on.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The phrase "privacy nightmare" gets thrown around a lot, but an online service taking pictures of your screen every few seconds does not sound worth the risk of exposure of personal information.

As for someone needing physical access to your device in order to access those screenshots, there's no way that's correct.

If they're locally stored on your machine, those screenshots can be accessed by an intruder.

Seems like a long walk for an extremely limited scope of benefit.

Drowning a baby in bathwater.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I was asked what the reason for this function was, so I speculated on that reason in an attempt to answer the question, and I got downvoted for it.

I wasn't addressing the privacy concerns at all. That wasn't part of the question.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Bummer, I didn't downvote you.

I think that's the nature of the beast here, don't take the fake Internet points too seriously.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Yeah, it's not stopping me from commenting. I'm only noting the downvotes in this case because I was making a point elsewhere in the thread about the extremely anti-AI sentiment around here. In this case I'm not even saying something positive about it, merely speculating about the reason why Microsoft is doing this, and I guess that's still being interpreted as "justifying" AI and therefore something worthy of attack.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I'm preaching to the choir here on Lemmy but I'm glad that I made the jump to Linux last year

[–] [email protected] -2 points 5 months ago

If people say "I care about privacy" and are still on Windows/Mac, I question just how much they care.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[+] [email protected] -62 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Whereas I'm enjoying many of the new AI-powered features that Microsoft has been coming up with lately.

But echo chambers gonna echo, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You sound like Linux shit in your cereal, friend.

[+] [email protected] -38 points 5 months ago (2 children)

No, I sound like someone who likes many of the new AI-powered features that Microsoft has been coming up with lately.

I don't use Linux. I don't think about it at all, it doesn't affect me.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Which features do you enjoy?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I like copilot in VSCode but MS screenshotting my shit can fuck right off

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What does that have to do with echo chambers, exactly?

[+] [email protected] -8 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Check the upvote/downvote counts on my comment vs. macattack's. It's nigh impossible to say anything positive about AI around here.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

I dislike the AI push as much as the next guy, but you are totally right. Pro-AI comments don’t do well around these parts. It’s crazy that people are denying it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

It's very possible to say positive things about AI around here - you just have some really big gaps in knowledge when it comes to how generative AI functions.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say that's particularly surprising. Most people in Lemmy and similar platforms have been here since the mass exodus from Reddit, or are programmers themselves. These groups are usually more privacy-minded, and see this as a significant privacy issue. This doesn't really necessarily mean it's an echo chamber though, I've seen a lot of people talk about how they use and like Windows, and I think the reason why they downvoted your comment (making an assumption here, I don't see downvotes in my instance) is because it seems to be completely unprompted by anything or anyone, and a bit abrasive.

[+] [email protected] -24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That just so happens to describe me to a T. I'm a privacy-minded programmer who came here as part of the Reddit exodus. Because I'm a programmer and am aware of how these AIs function, I am not overly concerned about them and appreciate the capabilities they provide to me. I'm aware of the risks and how to manage them.

The comment I was responding to brought up "Linux is better" unprompted. But that's in line with the echo, so I guess that's fine.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm a privacy-minded programmer
I'm (...) aware of how these AIs function
I am not overly concerned about them

Objectively, these three statements form a paradox. At least one statement has to be false.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

People dont hate ai, people hate “ai“ llms designed by corporations to produce compliant, inoffensive and soulless art and content, eventually leaving nothing but drab menial labor for us, imprisoned in our corporate shaped minds, unable to express any revolutionary thought any more.

I am very interested in open source models i can run on my local machine. Just not in those corporate creativity perverters dystopian science fiction couldn't come up with if it tried.

E: there are a few ai communities on here too, for example fosai and stablediffusion, I would think you can find like minded people over there, even on lemmy.