Collection of information in Windows 10 violates the legislation on the protection of personal data of the Netherlands

Collection of information in Windows 10 violates the legislation on the protection of personal data of the Netherlands

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Microsoft has faced the legal consequences of implementing a fairly aggressive data collection mechanism in the Windows 10 operating system. The Dutch government's Data Protection Authority found that Windows 10 violates national data protection laws. Even after the changes implemented in the previous update Creators Update.

It is noted that Microsoft does not "clearly inform" users about the type of data used and the reasons why these data are needed. Moreover, officials believe that the default Windows settings do not allow users to give the right consent to data collection. During the installation of Windows 10, the system configures the complete transfer of data by default and recommends simply accepting these conditions. The Data Protection Authority believes that if the user has not changed these settings, this does not mean that she gave permission to collect data. The regulator also claims that updating the Creators Update does not respect some of the user privacy settings, and that Microsoft does not clearly understand that the Edge browser constantly collects information about applications and looks at data using the default settings.

In turn, Microsoft does not agree with the findings of Data Protection Authority. The company responded to each "fear" of the regulator. So, Microsoft claims that Windows 10 sufficiently informs the user about the collected data and how this data is used. However, in order to get a full understanding, it is necessary to study in more detail the confidentiality agreement and read more sections (which few people read). The company also claims that to understand compatibility issues (for at least a few hundred million Windows users), at least it needs to get some device information and look for recurring application failures that can hint at security holes. However, Microsoft does not agree that the default settings for the software does not allow people to give the right consent.

In the future, Microsoft intends to work more closely with the Data Protection Authority to avoid accusations of violations. Although the heated debate shows that it is unlikely that the parties will come to an agreement in the near future.

Whatever happens, these claims can have far-reaching consequences. If Microsoft does not want to make a version of Windows 10 with changes to privacy rules only for the Netherlands, you can expect that it will change the rules of data collection around the world.

Source: Engadget