14 December 24, 09:54
Quote:Recall continues to be a privacy disaster. Reports suggest that the AI feature is recording sensitive information, even with the sensitive information filter enabled.
When Microsoft announced Recall, it did so riding on a wave of positive AI news. The company was preparing nothing other than the next generation of Windows and it wanted to announce a big feature during the main announcement.
AI, after all, stands at the center of the company's new Copilot+ PC certification. What Microsoft did not expect was the criticism that it received shortly after it revealed Recall.
An AI system that monitored and recorded pretty much anything on the PC? Enabled by default? With little safeguards and security to protect the recorded data? What could possibly go wrong?
For the big bang, Microsoft decided to skip Insider builds. This meant that it did not receive feedback from early testers, only from internal sources and maybe some partners that were allowed to try Recall. Did no one warn Microsoft about the issues or were they swept away?
So, Microsoft pulled Recall shortly after reveal and promised to go back to the drawing board. Then in late September, Microsoft announced Recall 2.0.
It did good on some of the promises that it made. Recall was now opt-in and no longer running automatically in the background. The AI feature used better security now, including extra protection of the database that contained a user's recorded history.
Note: the Sensitive Information filter is designed to block screen captures by Recall if sensitive data, such as a credit card or social security number, is entered.
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