improve Windows Hosts / macOS wiki mentions

[phabricator-migrator]

Information

ID: 993
PHID: PHID-TASK-gf3ozf5u5lrqaajd6i7m
Author: Patrick
Status at Migration Time: resolved
Priority at Migration Time: Normal

Description

• Microsoft Windows Hosts and
• Host Operating System Selection - Whonix
• Template:Windows Hosts - Whonix

Need to be reviewed according to feedback in

Long Wiki Edits Thread - #1793

Host Operating System Selection Wiki Page Discussion

This really needs a rewrite. A lot of the points are just completely inaccurate. Windows: The forced updates/upgrades are hardly “backdoors”. Would you rather have millions of people forget to update and their computers become seriously insecure? This is how botnets are formed. When Microsoft realized it had accidentally allowed GNU/Linux to be installed on RT tablets, it quickly “fixed the error” [archive] to prevent the use of other operating systems. This is good as a joke. Nothing el…

by @madaidan .

Potential reviewers / implementers for this ticket: @HulaHoop / @Patrick.

Help welcome.

Comments

---

madaidan

2020-05-28 19:46:41 UTC

More points that should be removed:

Windows 10 spyware which tracks text input and unique typing cadence (pattern) [archive] is comparable to a corporate keylogger.

The source linked in the article does not say that.

Speech, voice activation, inking, typing, and privacy - Microsoft Support

The most it says is:

“As part of inking and typing on your device, Windows collects unique words—like names you write—in a personal dictionary stored locally on your device, which helps you type and ink more accurately.”

The keyword is “locally”. Microsoft gets no information from this.

When you use the Microsoft cloud-based speech recognition service, Microsoft collects and uses your voice recordings to create a text transcription of the spoken words in the voice data.

Obviously. That’s the point of it being cloud-based and it isn’t an issue. If you don’t want to use the cloud then read literally the next paragraph:

“You can use device-based speech recognition without sending your voice data to Microsoft.”

---

Patrick

2020-05-29 13:34:06 UTC

The The news report [1] link is nowadays broken. It redirects to another page.

The news report [1] used a correct citation at that time. Early versions of the cited/linked source link said exactly that. [2] And it’s not out of context either.

[1] How to turn off Windows 10's keylogger (yes, it still has one) | PCWorld
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20150801001352/http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/speech-inking-typing-privacy-faq

Edited to clarify: Template:Windows Hosts: Difference between revisions - Whonix

Obviously. That’s the point of it being cloud-based and it isn’t an issue.

Many non-technical users won’t understand the implications of “cloud-based”, what that really means. Implications needs to be translated to simpler English. Edited to add.

“You can use device-based speech recognition without sending your voice data to Microsoft.”

This being a non-default is the problem. Also edited to add:
Template:Windows Hosts: Difference between revisions - Whonix

---

Patrick

2021-03-21 11:20:21 UTC

I don’t see what else can be done here. This statement is limited to only what was said in this ticket.

Issue tracker was moved meanwhile to forums as per:
Bug Reports, Software Development and Feature Requests

I am not calling the whole task done.

Split discussion into its own forum discussion.

Host Operating System Selection Wiki Page Discussion

Will continue there.

Patrick closed this task as Resolved.

It’s only really closed once the forum topic says it is. Just doing this since this issue tracker phabricator is being phased out at Whonix project.

---

Patrick

2021-03-21 11:20:47 UTC

! In T993#20220, @Patrick wrote:
I don’t see what else can be done here. This statement is limited to only what was said in this ticket.

If not… Quote and bring up here:

Host Operating System Selection Wiki Page Discussion