Has Microsoft pulled a fast one on us?

[Wasim Wes Adetunji]

What’s the difference between personalizing your experience and handing over your personal info to an advertising company, when the same people who make your phone sell you ads on it? Microsoft may not be able to match the market share of Android, but like iPhone, it can be more profitable. Whether consciously or not, Microsoft is slowly building their platform around Cortana. The reason being that nobody wants to "hand over personal information to Microsoft”, but “telling Cortana" where you work, what you do, and the fact that you like Indian food can feel natural and harmless. | read the rest here: Microsoft's not-so-secret plan to get us to hand over our data

 

[Asskickulater]

and the tinfoil helmets have returned.

Cortana doesn't send ANY of what you tell her to Microsoft, it never leaves your device, it saves all the info it gathers into her "notebook" which is basically just a text file.

 

[emperor_skull]

We are not handing our data over to MS, is stored on Cortana's notebook

 

[ohgood]

and the tinfoil helmets have returned.

Cortana doesn't send ANY of what you tell her to Microsoft, it never leaves your device, it saves all the info it gathers into her "notebook" which is basically just a text file.

mmm, so she doesn't search the internet for what you've asked about, and download results to your devices ?


look at radio shack, and what they are doing

 

[Paul215821]

And this is different from searching online yourself and having the information sent to your phone, how? Cortana doesn't send your information to Microsoft, and your ISP can already see exactly which sites you visit if they wanted to. Look up the "super cookie" for example.

 

[Bizarro_Prime]

Like any search engine, Cortana goes online to get results.
All your info is stored on the device, just as it would if you saved them to your hard drive on your PC.

 

[paulsalter]

I don't have a problem with Cortana sending data to MS

But how can the data only be stored locally in the notebook, Cortana is going to sync between all Win 10 devices, so surely this means the data is stored online at MS?

 

[Slovenix]

Why do people even care about personal data, chill out guys, it's not like they are watching YOU. I couldn't care less. Those personalized ads on FB actually helped me Lol.

I don't have anything to hide.

This it's getting out of control..

 

[Wasim Wes Adetunji]

Yeah, nobody said this was a bad thing. Just remember that Cortana is really Bing, and the purpose thereof is to sell us ads. And the reason she has a name is so that we become comfortable with it.

 

[ohgood]

I don't have a problem with Cortana sending data to MS

But how can the data only be stored locally in the notebook, Cortana is going to sync between all Win 10 devices, so surely this means the data is stored online at MS?

wipe a phone or tablet, then sync it.... bam all your data is there. yes, your info is stored online.

 

[Wasim Wes Adetunji]

Does that change any of what I said? She's personified in order to make us comfortable with improving search results in order to sell us more ads.

It's kind of obvious ..

 

[Wasim Wes Adetunji]

It syncs between devices using the cloud.

 

[xandros9]

Does that change any of what I said? She's personified in order to make us comfortable with improving search results in order to sell us more ads.

It's kind of obvious ..

No its not obvious.

As much as I would humor the sort of suspicious things (I play Deus Ex) I think you're trying to draw connections to fit a predetermined situation where there are none.

She's personified to be a better assistant with the potential fringe benefit of what you're saying.

Cortana is not Bing. Cortana is powered by Bing.
Well you know, Google Now is a great service, but I don't think they stick ads in the cards there.

I understand the sentiment, but you're grabbing at straws. A major factor she's called Cortana is that the community pestered MS for it. No its not like there was a round table of illuminati folks thinking. "OK men, we need a fancy name for this assistant so people will throw data at us"
MS is made up of people. If I worked in the Cortana team, I'd champion Cortana because its a good name, people like it, etc. Not for the sake of "ohoho ads ads ads!"

Bing exists to offer data and searches. It also sells the potential eyeballs it gets to advertisers. Metadata is for better targeting, which is more valuable to advertisers. Trying to sell me a fancy new purse doesn't help anyone. Trying to sell me a phone, maybe, is more relevant.

MS's chief goal is making money. If one way is through ads, sure. If they cross a line, OK watch the storm happen. But that's not conducive to money-making.

 

[Norris Rochelle]

I find it amusing that everyone speaks on how other companies do it but have no solid proof of Cortana implementing said practices.

 

[bo_woods]

This honestly doesn't matter to me...

OMG OH NO! MICROSOFT KNOWS THAT I LOOKED UP NEARBY MOVIE THEATRES!

What is the real harm in it all

 

[dkediger]

Collecting and reselling meta data has been a thing for many years - way before smartphones became ubiquitous. Credit card usage patterns, shopping loyalty cards, even magazine subscriptions.

Granted, smartphones provide the capability to ramp this up several orders of magnitude, but the concept is nothing new. In general, the public accepts it and tacitly approves it if there's an appearance of a tit for tat benefit for doing so.

To accuse Microsoft of pulling a fast one is ignoring the history of retail and marketing over the last 60 or so years....

 

[Angry_Mushroom]

I have a question. Did you pull a fast one on us in hopes someone here will comment/vote on your article? You could have posted the entire rant here, instead of leading us on a wild chase to the redditian realms of Dantian Hell. This issue has been brought up countless times, and explained countless times. We live in a digital world where our personal information is floating around. Amazon, Sony, MS, Discover, Visa, Google all mine your data, and pretty much state it outright. Even paypal does it.

No corporation "unconsciously" does something. It IS building all services around the internet of things, and Microsoft is very proud of that fact. The future is indeed an interconnected digital future where your identity will become as public here as it is in the analog realm. I, for one, welcome our new digital overlords, and would love to remind them I can be useful as a consumer of media of various types.

 

[colinkiama]

Lol you guys are worrying for nothing. No one is going to use the data against you. Seriously, you guys are being babies

 

[Geddeeee]

Big Brother arrived years ago... If you don't like it, sell everything and live in a cave!!!!

 

[Greywolf1967]

I find the only people who worry about Big Brother seeing things, are people who are doing things they should not be doing.

The internet runs off of gathering information, so companies can get things seen by people who may want buy things.

If you do not wish Big Data to gather your stats, go live in the woods off grid like the Uni bomber, Don't forget your Tin Foil hat because Big Brother has Gear in orbit that read your brain waves, and make you crave KFC/Coke/Gas Hogging SUV's/ and Taylor Swift CD's.