93
Signal calls out Microsoft for poor implementation of Windows 11 Recall, blocks it by default
(www.xda-developers.com)
this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
93 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
38692 readers
258 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Sure, but most people already have sensitive data on their PCs and trust the OS to keep it (mostly) safe.
To the end that stonk line go up.
The issue is that there are a lot of situations where a file can not legally be copied, saved or shared, and a screen shot by these systems would be considered that. It’s not that the files would be impossible to save or copy as is, but it’s not legal to, and having a system that might do it automatically without human input is a massive legal liability.
Even if companies in such a situation turn off recall on a system, there is no guarantee that microsoft won’t, at some point, push an update that activates recall on systems that had previously opted out of using it, or even reinstall it on systems that had physically removed the program from their system. Such as was done with programs like edge and Cortana.
Or an exploit is found that can turn it on.
It's hard to believe anyone would be legally convicted of a crime because their OS took a screenshot.
issues around these kinds of legal liability situations are why so many companies hung on to systems like fax machines for so long. Or why so many banks still run on cobol.
If a company’s machine does something illegal, the company is liable for allowing the machine to be set up in a way that allowed it to happen.
“Your honor, I didn’t know the computer would do that” is not a viable legal defense.