Have you thanked Windows 10 and Microsoft for tracking you? After a lot of negative criticism, from individuals and various regulatory authorities around the world, for excessive data collection efforts through Windows 10 telemetry, Microsoft said it was proud to receive “positive” feedback for the privacy changes released with the Windows 10 Creators Update.
These changes, which Microsoft rolled out to Windows 10 in recent months, include an online privacy dashboard with more granular controls for location, speech recognition, diagnostics, tips and recommendations, and relevant ads.
These changes were made under the supervision of European data protection authorities, as part of the annual investigation by France's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) that found "excessive data collection" by Windows 10 and the tracking of browser data without users' consent.
The CNIL, in June, sent its official notice to Microsoft, noting that the company had managed to halve the volume of telemetry data collected by Windows, for better diagnostics of system operation.
The CNIL said the company had begun providing “clear and precise information” about web tracking and ad personalization.
With this fact in mind, Microsoft says that signs show that its customers trust it with their data and that its response to customer feedback – and not just legal threats – has led to improvements in Windows users' privacy.
“The feedback we’ve received about the Creators Update has been positive. This is great news for us because what we hear from you directly impacts the improvements we make,” said Marisa Rogers, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer.
Although the basic setting collects much less data than before, Rogers notes that 71% of customers choose the Full option, which sends browser data, app data, and typing data to Microsoft.
The Full setting works by default, but can be changed to Basic.
Also, 23 million people using Microsoft accounts have visited the privacy dashboard since it was launched in January.
Microsoft launched the websiteas the Swiss data protection authority filed a lawsuit over the company's surveillance operations.
Rogers also said that more privacy changes will be rolling out to Windows Insider subscribers in the "coming weeks."
