Sure - maybe. Except the article above doesn't have any compelling proof of that at all.
This entire conversation is "How dare they make requests to 3rd parties" with fuck all else as evidence of what's getting sent.
Show me where they're doing things like sending my HDD serial, or my bluetooth devices, or nearby wifi devices, and sure - we can have a good conversation about whether that's intrusive. Until then.... this is literally a useless conversation. You're making claims without any evidence (a DNS query is piss poor fucking evidence for any data collection...)
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Also - if they want to fingerprint the device, they really don't need any of the information at all. Most folks happily leave the default settings which just generates an ID at OS install to be used for personalized content (and again - they've told you they're doing this... it's not a surprise).
That's exactly right. It's a "Personal Computer". There is no reason (that is in the best interest of the PC's "Owner") for it to connect to "Data Research" 3rd parties with a fresh install of Windows.
Because I can think of a fuck load of valid reasons my computer is making requests to these companies, and I'm not trying very hard.
Tracking is genuinely useful when providing services - gauging interest and user preference is HARDLY new to tech. Do you think your grocery store isn't tracking what their best selling items are and making decisions about shelf space? Why do you expect your digital store to not do the same?
In this case - they're also providing weather and news data. That data needs to be local to me for it to matter (I don't need the weather from 3 states away...). That data is often coming from applications that 3rd parties create (widgets) and they can and do opt into using 3rd parties other than microsoft for tracking.
Finally...
If you don't like it... fucking switch. I use Arch as my daily driver basically everywhere except work (where I'm stuck on macOS, and boy if you think Windows is bad... I've got news for you about Apple... they track the time and location of every damn app I open on their crapboxes - for your own security of course /s)
Or... just turn it off. Which most orgs already do with easily controlled GPO settings, and you can do with a couple of clicks at install time when you really should read the damn fine print that they're showing you.
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If you want to talk about malicious tracking - I want to start with my fucking bank and credit card company. I don't give a fuck about MS.
Like others said, it's news widgets. In an iframe. With zero identifying data about you. It doesn't even use your location automatically without asking. The worst they have is geoip for weather & news region.
This entire conversation is "How dare they make requests to 3rd parties" with fuck all else as evidence of what's getting sent.
Show me where they're doing things like sending my HDD serial, or my bluetooth devices, or nearby wifi devices, and sure - we can have a good conversation about whether that's intrusive. Until then.... this is literally a useless conversation. You're making claims without any evidence (a DNS query is piss poor fucking evidence for any data collection...)
---
Also - if they want to fingerprint the device, they really don't need any of the information at all. Most folks happily leave the default settings which just generates an ID at OS install to be used for personalized content (and again - they've told you they're doing this... it's not a surprise).