Microsoft Research chief scientist has no issue with Windows Recall
- Reference: 1717658768
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/06/microsoft_research_recall/
- Source link:
Teevan was speaking on Wednesday with Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, at the US university's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence's fifth anniversary conference.
Brynjolfsson said when Recall was announced, there was "kind of a backlash against all the privacy challenges around that. So, talk about both the pluses and minuses of using all that data and some of the risks that creates and also some of the opportunities."
[1]
This was clearly a popular topic.
Of course we are rethinking what data means and how we use it, how we value it, how it gets used
"Yeah, and so it's a great question, Erik," said Teevan. "This has come up throughout the morning as well – the importance of data. And this AI revolution that we're in right now is really changing the way we understand data."
She continued, "Microsoft generally helps large enterprises manage their data, create data, share data, and that data is really something that makes the business of work different in the context of generative AI.
[2]
[3]
"And as individuals too, we have important data, the data that we interact with all the time, and there's an opportunity to start thinking about how to do that and to start thinking about what it means to be able to capture and use that. But of course we are rethinking what data means and how we use it, how we value it, how it gets used."
The Register [4]noted when Recall was [5]introduced at Microsoft Build last month that the software – which builds an archive of screenshots taken every few seconds and logs user activities, so that past actions can be recalled – presents a significant privacy risk. As recently [6]described by author Charlie Stross, it is "the product nobody wanted" and "an utter privacy shit-show."
[7]Analysts join the call for Microsoft to recall Recall
[8]Windows 11's Recall feature is on by default on Copilot+ PCs
[9]Giving Windows total recall of everything a user does is a privacy minefield
[10]Was there no one at Microsoft who looked at Recall and said: This really, really sucks
Undaunted by Teevan's unwillingness to acknowledge why Recall struck a nerve, Brynjolfsson probed further.
"Is it stored locally?" he asked. "So suppose I activate Recall, and I don't know if I can, but when you have something like that available, I would be worried about all my personal files going up into the cloud, Microsoft, or whatever. Do you have it kept locally?"
[11]
Erk Brynjolfsson and Jaime Teevan on stage at the [12]Stanford HAI conference this week ... Click to enlarge
Teevan responded, "Yeah, yeah, so this is a foundational thing that we as a company care a lot about is actually the protection of data. So Recall is a feature which captures information. It's a local Windows functionality, nothing goes into the cloud, everything's stored locally."
And that was that, as if continuously recording one's computing activities in a series of screenshots and activity logs has no security or privacy implications if the data is local and protected by Microsoft Account credentials – and not much of a reassurance in light of the release of security researcher Alex Hagenah's tool [13]Total Recall . This code can extract and display data from Recall's unencrypted SQLite database, in which the operating system "feature" stores snapshots of user activity.
[14]
Meanwhile, security researchers and analysts [15]continue to pile on , calling for Recall - due to be released later this month - to be forgotten.
As Stross argues, Windows PCs with Recall will be targeted by lawyers during discovery proceedings because they will provide access not just to email messages but conversations in any messaging or collaboration app, and possibly spoken conversations if speech-to-text data gets captured by Redmond's activity logger. It's also handy for a system intruder to us to snoop on what their victim has been up to lately, personally and for work.
"It's a shit-show for any organization that handles medical records or has a duty of legal confidentiality; indeed, for any business that has to comply with GDPR (how does Recall handle the Right to be Forgotten? In a word: badly), or HIPAA in the US," he wrote in his post.
[16]
"This misfeature contravenes privacy law throughout the EU (and in the UK), and in healthcare organizations everywhere which has a medical right to privacy."
Referring to Recall's ability to avoid capturing DRM'd content, the sci-fi scribe continued: "About the only people whose privacy it doesn't infringe are the Hollywood studios and Netflix, which tells you something about the state of things." ®
Also at Stanford: [17]To solve AI energy crisis, 'rethink the entire stack from electrons to algorithms,' says physics prof .
Get our [18]Tech Resources
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/22/windows_recall/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/21/qualcomm_windows_microsoft/
[6] https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2024/06/is-microsoft-trying-to-commit-.html
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/04/microsoft_analysts_recall/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/03/windows_11_recall_on_default/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/22/windows_recall/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/25/microsoft_build_kettle/
[11] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/06/05/erik_and_jamie.jpg
[12] https://hai.stanford.edu/hai-5-agenda-outline
[13] https://github.com/xaitax/TotalRecall
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZmGIwnqCXA7nJD2VbyFwwgAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/04/microsoft_analysts_recall/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZmGIwnqCXA7nJD2VbyFwwgAAAI8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/05/a_high_five_for_stanford/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Kool-Aid...
... it is strong in this one.
Go away, it's an operating system not a slurp machine.
So not only are older but perfectly usable PCs are needing to be replaced, but all those 256Gb SSDs will need to be replaced for larger drives to store all your future years of porn activity.
Just how green is Microsoft? Seems to be turning more brown each day
No just no.
...we have important data,...there's an opportunity to start thinking about what it means to be able to capture and use that.
See, she said it out loud.
MS says that they have no interest in the data that Recall is capturing but how long before the temptation gets too great and MS starts siphoning off all your activities and starts selling them to the highest bidder?
Is that data yours or Microsoft's?
Re: No just no.
"MS says that they have no interest in the data that Recall is capturing"
And I've got no interest in that data...
Programs that need it generally have 'undo' functions... others probably don't have it/need it for a reason... the only people that need that extra function are mainly classified as 'bay guys'
What was that again?
I suppose that it's only appropriate that Teevan replies in [1]Newspeak when asked a question in English.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak
I see
no ships...
I ain't holding my breath, but ...
... perhaps this will be the thing that causes the corporate lawyers to tell the C-suite "No more Redmond for YOU!".
Tailor needed
" "And as individuals too, we have important data, the data that we interact with all the time, and there's an opportunity to start thinking about how to do that and to start thinking about what it means to be able to capture and use that. But of course we are rethinking what data means and how we use it, how we value it, how it gets used." "
There's enough cheap flannel there to make an entire three piece suit (but not a high quality one).
People's value judgments ...
seem to be often affected by how much money it makes them or who pays them.
In other news
The Holy See conclude that being a Catholic is Good For You and NRA research proves widespread and uncontrolled gun ownership reduces crime.
I feel so much more comfortable with the world thanks to these entirely non-aligned findings.
Microsoft can't back down and scrap Recall now, because they have come up with exactly fsck all other reasons as to why you need a shiny shiny new PC with NPU and so if their one idea is shelved then what is the selling point for the Copilot+AI PC?
Although saying that you can run recall on an none AI PC anyway with just a standard ARM CPU without an NPU according to articles on Tom's Hardware. So even the need for a new Copilot+AI computer is irrelevant should you be bonkers enough that you do want to have a database on your PC with everything you have done stored in it, go ahead an enable with your old Surface laptop hardware.
Okay, I can see helpdesk staff rejoicing at an answer to one of the common problems in an office biz - "The computer ate my stuff! Hours of work gone even days! How are you going to get it back?" - but the biz is likely to take a dim view of all this proprietary info sloshing around on desktops and laptops with minimal control. It's entirely outside whatever document management system they'll have installed.
I suspect that the Recall system going wild and trying to fill up the hard disk is a potential new problem for the helpdesk too.
They'll probably randomly activate it with every update too.
"Users have the option to opt out by following this registry edit path, see link"
SNAFU
>>They'll probably randomly activate it with every update too.
And change the reg key used to diasble it without telling anyone, so you can't set a GPO and forget it, you have to keep updating the GPO and waiting for it to propagate... which, interestingly, means you will probably be liable for any GDPR breach caused by Recall for the time between the old Reg key being superceeded and New reg key taking effect.
Sigh... why does this always happen on a Thursday?
Preaching to the converted
Remember, folks, never go back to an abusive partner. Never forget the pain they have caused.
If that doesn't work then:
Psychotherapy: This is also known as “talk therapy”. It can help the person understand and cope with their feelings
Medication: In some cases, medication may be needed, especially if the person is dealing with other mental health issues like depression or anxiety
Support Network: Encourage the person to lean on friends, family, or support groups. They can provide emotional support and help the person feel less alone
Education: Learning more about Stockholm Syndrome can help the person understand what they’re going through
Professional Help: It’s important to seek help from a mental health professional. They can provide the necessary support and treatment
Am I missing something here?
So. Recall collects user-data and bundles it into SQLite tables. When something wants to mine this data (note, I didn't say when the user wants to... ), Recall then queries its model built from this pool. Forgive me but I thought if you're using LLM for this kind of thing then you can't add to the model incrementally: doesn't one have to rebuild it from source data again? If so, this will take proportionally longer each time and one could view this as the mother of all forced upgrades: give it two years and my PC is running like a dog and the drive(s) are filling up. No amount of defrag or clean-up will help because it's busy building its latest model. My only option is to replace said machine with new shiny, replete with a new license for the OS, naturally.
I bet she had no problem marking her own homework at school either.