Microsoft admits spying

Software king of the world Microsoft has defended its ad-targeting practices, claiming that it is a lot more responsible than others.

[ferdus-hutki-shira]

So basically they dont care about peoples privacy

[TheHater]

that the impression I got from reading that. Isn't that illegal?

[Jamie Foxx]

.. thank you safari

[Silellak]

Name one company that DOES care about your privacy - even Google does something very similar.

Not defending Microsoft, or the practice in general, but this is hardly limited to just MS.

[kevnb]

why thank safari? You think apple is any less evil? Lets just face it, our privacy is non-existent.

[Bnet343]

lol at least they admit it unlike the US government. well, nevermind, Bush admitted to tapping phones to "collect" information on "terrorist killers"

[RemmM]

I always knew MS was spying anyway. Apple has been tracking you people with their ''i'' products as well. Its true. So this is no surprise....I love conspiracy theories. I've been studying this stuff for awhile. MS spying only scratches the surface. It is MUCH deeper than you can imagine. U_U

[DRUDOG]

I wouldn't quite equate the US government's involvement in spying to possibly save lives (among other things) to MS trying to make more money off you. The government isn't trying to make a buck off you or provide that information to third parties for a price. MS should get smacked just like any other company that breaks the law.

[wallace1000]

The US government spying to possibly save lives!? They also went into Iraq for another reason except oil right?

[xhairs9]

Can you show me your gas prices? If gas prices weren't $4+ a gallon, then and only then, I will believe that the only reason we went to Iraq was for oil. That's just another conspiracy theory which is what the US and any other country for this matter is built on, conspiracy.

[DRUDOG]

I'm not here to debate that what the US government does is right or wrong (or any other government for that matter); this is obviously just a gaming forum. I was just pointing out that comparing a money hungry company to a government who (at least on most levels) attempts to protect their interests and citizens isn't really justified. Believe me, I don't like my privacy invaded regardless of who is doing it.

[kewlkat007]

That's quite funny...

[IntelligentAj]

What's even more surprising than the spying is that 1)you people didn't already know this 2)Some of you actually believe that this isn't a common practice among companies trying to find new ways to reach customers. Why does this surprise any of you?

[wallace1000]

Well it defiantly wasn't because they were a threat or because they needed freeing. There are also all the reconstruction projects, can anyone say Halliburton?

[juuken]

...Wow.
Just wow.
You are no longer safe in your own home anymore. I mean, a person should be able to maintain their privacy on the internet.

[Silellak]

"In your own home"? This has to do with internet privacy. There hasn't been privacy on the internet for YEARS, sadly.

[kevnb]

its been like this ever since everyone started using he internet every day.

[juuken]

It's bad enough the government does it and now corporations?
That's my point.

[DaKid]

On the bright side, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

@ Lord: Lol I think drinking leads to my problems, bubs for the laugh.

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

Nah I think drinking is the first step to fixing your problems

[Zydake]

HIDE THE P0RN rofl...

[wallace1000]

Are you really surprised considering the government is run by corporations. Voters don't have any power, money has power.

[Hentai]

I Knew it! I always felt someone was in my room when watching afew hentai episodes.

[silverchode]

sorry couldnt help it :)

[Shane Kim]

Ehhhrm...Shane Dim can't help it too. I'm a little unsecure about my sexuality.

[eagle21]

Microsoft and the word "admit" is hard to come by these days. I will have to just cherish this moment.

[andron]

I switched to Linux on my laptop. But when I visit my family I use their Vista laptop. And the number of spam mail in my yahoo mail increases exponentially for as long as I use yahoo mail on Vista.

When I go home and just uses my Linux laptop the amount of spam decreases gradually to nearly none.

[Wii60Fan]

You have never heard of spam filters?

[dantesparda]

Dont fvcking work! everyday i am clicking "spam" on mad emails on my yahoo account. Some people just believe any stupid sh!t out there. And why are we as citizens of our respective countries always taking this sh!t? When are we the people gonna stand up to this govern ments and corporations? Never is my guess, instead we will just continue to take it, until the camera is right in our bedroom

[AllroundGamer]

on the next Windows edition box there should stand: "Now with even more spy features!!!" privacy is sooo overrated...

[Pain]

.

[Boink]

a lot of companies do things that are borderline illegal.

as long as they don't hop over the border they don't care, and some don't even care if they hop over it!

[cow moolester]

Every big corp does this...it's the sad truth. And for the anti-Microsoft brigade ready to pounce on this

Sony installs rootkits on people's PCs to monitor them
http://www.usatoday.com/tec...

Microsoft wipes rootkit from Windows
http://news.cnet.com/Micros...

[Orange]

but Sony doesn't pervasively infest any staple markets. microsoft has an iron grip on 97% of the global desktop operating system market. in June the worldwide estimate of PCs was just passed 1 billion, making Microsoft's share of eyeball pairs around 974 million. that seems a little more dangerous than a rootkit on a CD, as bad an idea as that is.

[LossTheEarthbreaker]

I would like to be one of those 1800 people.

[AIi_The_Brit]

wow enjoy investing your money and gaming choices in a company that spies on you

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Aren't you a multiple console owner? So you have invested in 2 companies that have actively spied on people Sony and MS.

It's all your fault!!! ;)

[DraconWolfX]

Sony does it too. Don't act like MS is the only one.

[Megaton]

Oh yeah, I can totally see people being excited over Microsoft spying on them. Where's this "opt out" thing, and how do they track you, via IE or via Windows?

[joeynox]

This is not a MS issue its a interent on a whole issue. All ads, and site collect some data. Thats how you get specific spam and with google if you clikc certain ads it will reconize those ad you click and feed you more of the same. Old news

[Jandre02]

Big Corp's never learn. I swear, isn't this stuff illegal? What's scary to me is, if this corporations are doing all of this, just imagine what the government is doing!?

They are probably in your PC's RIGHT NOW! Hacking your CPUs.

[Dyingduck]

How sad...it's like, Xbots pay to get spied on...way to go with your investment

[GiantEnemyCrab]

haha you must forget about the whole Sony rootkit fiasco which they actually were taken to court over. So you "paid to get spied on" as well droid. Way to go with your investment durrrrr.

You make this sound like an "Xbox" problem when it's an internet issue.

MS pales in comparison to the amount of spying Google does.

[Dyingduck]

I am talking about LIVE vs PSN not some historical crap - besides even if PSN does spy on people, at least it's free...you guys "PAY" to get spied on ROFL, it's like paying someone to KICK you in your BALLS...lol

[DraconWolfX]

Dying Duck --

This doesn't even have to do with the Xbox. No where in TFA does it mention the Xbox.

[Xi]

Remember the Sony RootKit scandel?

Everyone spies.

[ReBurn]

That article is so vague. So what are the "privacy friendly" companies? The majority of data collected by these companies through their ads is not personally identifiable. Practically every website that displays ads, including this one, is collecting some sort of usage data. Maybe not the website itself, but the company serving the ads is.

[Wii60Fan]

All of them do it. So what is the point of posting this obviously biased against Microsoft article?

[ElementX]

I fully admit I look at ign.com, redtube, xtube, and n4g.com. Is that so hard? who cares if people know you look at porn sites or whatever? You're filmed walking down the sidewalk. You pay for a service, you pay companies to provide your internet connection, your ISP can spy on you, MS can spy on you, satellites can spy on you, who cares? If you want complete privacy, don't leave your home and don't turn on your computer. Sit around reading books. you think Apple is innocent? I bet they have satellites that can pick up iPods and iMacs based on their MAC addresses and other chips inside. Not to mention card access systems at work, I bet your access cards have chips inside that can be read from a distance by hackers using radioscopic antennas. How about your driver's license? They scan them at bars and some liquor stores. How about credit cards and other "cards" in your wallet? Grow up. you don't have privacy and haven't for 60 years

[MONOLITHICIDE]

remember were the peasants still big Corporations and Government come at a cost say your privacy, they wont tell you, you think your phones arent still being hacked into HA i laugh at you. yea we have no privacy what so ever we cant stop them, lol and people want obama as president. omglol. it sickens me he doesnt even know how many states are in america, you know what he said, lol get this 57. where are there fiftyseven states in the USA, or maybe theres fiftyseven muslim territories in the middle east, hes not american people hes the enemy and were to dumb to see it, stop following the obama bumper stickers and look around and listen, hes muslim were the infidels remember and hes racsist too. www.michaelsavage.com

[rekonizakilla]

you do know this is a gaming site don't you? It isn't hard to get a sound bite of somebody making a mistake (look at George Bush). Screw politics,Screw religion talk about games.

[psycho360]

The only people concerned about their privacy are the ones leading dual life or doing something unethical. I was earlier working in with accounting software vendor company. Their software could let us get info about the accounts of any company using our software and connecting online. So you'd be naive to know the O/S in your computer, the antivirus software, the spy blocking software etc will not be leaking out info about ur system/activities.

[name]

I knew there'd be people who'd defend microsoft even when they do something like this. If microsoft stole all of it's money from blind children people would say "OH and I guess sony gets all its money the honest way right? they've never done anything wrong?"

[HDDVD_ftw]

Now they must admit their console is crap and they lost the console war.

But denial is strong.

[ravinash]

It always seem that they never use the results anyway.
I still get a ton of mail trying to sell me credit from banks and cedit card companies, dispite the fact I have never asked for credit in my life.
It just proves that pispite collecting all this information...they just ignore it anyway.

[lewis]

all others are guilty.

[DraconWolfX]

Everyone here is ripping on Microsoft for being so terrible but no one is talking about the Sony Rootkit issue which is far worse than something like this?

[Wii60Fan]

I installed psp media manager. BIG mistake. Had a root kit! Had to reformat my computer. BAD sony BAD!

[mrnjl]

Hows this gaming news?

[jmare]

The truly sad thing is that people actually think that: 1) There is actually privacy outside your own mind; 2) That you have a right to privacy. Anyone who can show me a right to privacy is either mistaken or just foolish. Also, in other news, the sky is blue, grass is green, water is wet. I know, these tidbits are just as shocking as a business trying to make money off of people.

[Wii60Fan]

If they might even have the technology to read your mind...

[Capt CHAOS]

Not the news but people's reaction..

So which company DOESN'T spy on it's customer and their habits..

Don't be naive.

[PSWe60]

so the next time I run Windows Explorer I'll be sure to give Microsoft the big one finger salute.

[Wii60Fan]

You should run firefox.

[shotputking]

as a community, people that play video games are looked down upon by the general society. this is because video games are looked at as childish... which is why i almost can't stand this site anymore. can everyone on here stop acting like 5 year olds? your precious sony spies on you too. whatever brand clothes you wear? that company is spying on you too. every damn business in the world is spying on you. that's how that they know what, when and how much to sell things for. no company is "evil", every company is the same. they have one goal, and that's to make money. the japanese and the chinese industrialists are a HELL of a lot more cutthroat than american business, so you can only imagine what samsung, nintendo and sony are doing that you don't know about. no company is evil or bad, because each and every one of you would do the exact same thing in their position, if that meant the difference between a year end bonus of $20,000 and $40,000 based on performance. stop being childish, or at least wait until you've taken some college business classes before you comment on business practices. microsoft doesn't owe you any privacy, neither does general motors or comcast. they are all going to spy on you as much as they can, and if they caught, they'll pay the fines. and it will be worth it for them for that little bit of market analysis that they got, and they really don't give a damn if you're upset about their invasion of your privacy.

[DraconWolfX]

Very well said!