Technology

Yet another reminder that alternatives, where your privacy is not for sale, and your hardware belongs to you, actually exist in 2024

Who thought they were abandoning it?

I doubt they secured it particularly well either, because the nature of proper security is building it from the ground up with security as a core principle, but it was always coming back.

They delayed because "oh shit, people noticed we didn't even bother with security theater" and to let the backlash die down. They still consider it a major selling point.

While Recall may have sounded great on paper and on work-related PCs,

Ah yes, all those IT people were probably thrilled with the prospect of Microsoft getting sent constant screenshots of their employees' machines, with all those company secrets, sensitive information, and everything

They never said they were doing away with it. It's a feature literally no one asked for, it's insecure, it's invasive, a privacy nightmare any way you look at it.

And people who willingly use it will deserve all the shit that it is. And meanwhile, I'll be enjoying my privacy-respecting Linux operating system.

"has enough time passed that we won't get bad press for this?"

So imagine you're on PornHub and then out of nowhere, Clippy shows up and says "hmmm looks like you need some help pleasuring yourself", then starts flicking through similar nude pictures and videos to what you've been looking at before. The idle animation of the AI assistant even changes to Clippy morphing into the shape of a penis and shagging a rolled up piece of lined paper is if it were a fleshlight. You can't tell if Microsoft are mocking you for being a coomer, nor can you tell whether to find Clippy's sexual deviancy funny or creepy.

Somehow that hypothetical dystopia of Clippy watching you masturbate is only slightly worse than what Microsoft plan to do with Recall. If the mere thought of a machine learning AI taking screenshots of your desktop every few seconds and learning from your computer usage habits isn't absolutely fucking terrifying... Then imagine that these are likely being uploaded to a server for the perusal of advertisers, intelligence agencies and any hackers skilled enough to break into Microsoft's servers.

Even if it was stored locally, all it takes is one dodgy web link for you to inadvertently send all your Recall data to a hacker and have it ransomed.

<Insert how you'll use Linux> <rest of the population uses Windows because they don't know shit about tech and how shitty this is> <realize work loves Microsoft and you can't change that>

MS: Here's a cool new feature!
Users: That is spyware bullshit, fuck off!
MS: But muh ecosystem!
Users: Nobody fucking wants any of that. Now STFU and run my games, grandpa.
MS: sniffs This isn't over, you little shits.

Finished migrating to Linux right on time

This tool stinks of management requesting a better way to spy the employees. It has little to no benefits for the user.

I wonder why are they so invested into this "feature".

Their feature may come back to their OS but their OS isn’t coming back to my hardware.

Since Recall is constantly watching what you do, is it plausible that it could summarize and quantify for an employer how much work is being done on the machine during work hours?

The tendency of the rate of profit to fall is here again. They really do need to squeeze those dollars out

I'm glad I don't use Winbloat

Another day I'm thankful I don't work for a company that uses microshit anymore

https://github.com/openrecall/openrecall

Of course it is coming back.

I use Arch Linux... btw

Seriously, the alternatives are there... It's time to take the leap and never look back.