In 2013, Minister Kamp promised to survey the privacy perceptions of Dutch people on the internet. TNO has now conducted that survey. In the initial phase, we also talked to the researchers and then they administered a number of questionnaires to part of the population. The report and the accompanying parliamentary letter are packed with interesting information. The key insights in a row:
Citizens consider privacy important
For instance, 82.5% of Dutch citizens state that they attach great importance to privacy. In this respect, education or gender does not matter. Men and women, highly or poorly educated, everyone considers privacy very important. However, young people indicate that they find it slightly more normal to share information on the Internet, while older people are more reluctant to do so.
Windows 10 and 11
For instance, Windows 10 passes a lot to Microsoft by default such as:
- Windows 10 will forward all typed and spoken text to Microsoft so that the personal assistant Microsoft Cortana in Windows 10 can 'get to know you better'. The contents of your address book will also be uploaded to this internet service without any prompting from your friends in your address book. Cortana is not currently in the Dutch-language edition but is expected to be added later;
- Windows 10 will forward every web page visited to Microsoft for security analysis with SmartScreen technology;
- Windows 10 will let you easily share entered wifi passwords with 'friends' on social networks;
- Any programme (app) on your laptop, PC or tablet may read your unique advertising ID;
- New browser Edge wants to show you personalised ads;
- The PC will continuously store your location and share the location history to all programmes (apps) on the PC that request it;
- The programmes (apps) you install will instantly see who you are (name, photo facial recognition).
And this is just some of the most visible data snooping by Windows 10. Microsoft apparently wants to know much more than before what Windows users are up to on their PCs and on the internet; what interests them. Thanks to all that digging and better profiling of users, the advertising they see on your PC can be better tailored to them.
The cloud plays a big role in Windows 10 and 11, and so that's where a lot of private data ends up if you're not careful. Case in point: if you use encryption for your data, the key to it immediately moves to Microsoft's OneDrive. Also, browser history (the list of all web pages visited) is forwarded to Microsoft. This is to get to know the user better and thus serve them better.
A bit like: Give Microsoft the key to your house and ask Microsoft to open the door for you if you want in.
I will write an article on how to secure your privacy as much as possible in Windows 10 and 11.