In reply to a post by zyborg47:

To be honest, I am getting to the point of why do I bother to resist, after all my house is full of Echo units, but then it is only me at home most of the time and the only thing they are going to hear is me talking to the cat.

I think there are far greater concerns about online security from the use of smart speakers, Siri, Alexa, etc. than there are from operating systems. You give away a huge amount of information when you use these smart devices - and you can't control it like you can with Windows or Mac OS.

If you've got a mobile phone - however dumb - you are leaking all sorts of information all the time. Not just who you contact but also about your location in real time. A thief wants to know if you are out of the house - easy using data from your phone or your smart speaker. And don't get me started on (so-called) security cameras or smart doorbells.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

I think there are far greater concerns about online security from the use of smart speakers, Siri, Alexa, etc. than there are from operating systems. You give away a huge amount of information when you use these smart devices - and you can't control it like you can with Windows or Mac OS.

If you've got a mobile phone - however dumb - you are leaking all sorts of information all the time. Not just who you contact but also about your location in real time. A thief wants to know if you are out of the house - easy using data from your phone or your smart speaker. And don't get me started on (so-called) security cameras or smart doorbells.

Smart [Anything] : Nope
Siri : Nope
Alexa : Nope
Mobile : Nope
Win10 : Hacked and locked down to prevent auto updates / services doing what they want.
Win7 : Locked down

All it takes is time and not sacrificing your principles over privacy. What juicy things are they missing? Me shouting at Football Manager springs to mind of late. Nothing of importance to the rest of the world, but my privacy is important to me, so they can stick their unsolicited network connections up their fat pipe.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

It would be nice if Ms would put an option to stop data being sent to them or other sites.

What, like the options they put in Windows Professional to turn off all telemetry?

If you're worried use Windows Professional, not Windows Home.

But you really need to send some data to Microsoft (Apple, whoever) so that you can check for security updates and/or virus definition updates (an organization will manage this from a central server that they control and monitor - that's not a sensible option for home users). I'm more than happy to send that data and to send data about malicious software or spam that finds its way onto my computer. That makes life safer for the whole community.

Don't be too sure about Apple; they have a history of having collected data without telling the users they were doing so.

I do use Windows pro and there is no option to turn off all telemetry, there is an option to reduce it, but not turn it off. Even enterprise don't have that option, but there is a option to reduce it even more.

You may be happy to send the data, but we should still have an option

Mac OS asks if you want to turn on telemetry on set up, don't mean they don't send data mind you,

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

I think there are far greater concerns about online security from the use of smart speakers, Siri, Alexa, etc. than there are from operating systems. You give away a huge amount of information when you use these smart devices - and you can't control it like you can with Windows or Mac OS.

{/q]

What sort of info do you think you send with smart speakers? Lets see, Alexa turn on my lights, turn on heating, and maybe when I ask it question, and it knows what music I play. Sure it also knows where I am, well if fill that part in I suppose. It should only start working when you say the wake word, sometimes it mistakes thing and start up.

Yeah, i understand it collects data, as I have said before, most things do these days, the thing is it Windows never used to have this data collection and I need a OS to run the software I run.

If you've got a mobile phone - however dumb - you are leaking all sorts of information all the time. Not just who you contact but also about your location in real time. A thief wants to know if you are out of the house - easy using data from your phone or your smart speaker. And don't get me started on (so-called) security cameras or smart doorbells.


I don't disagree with you, well not for everything anyway. I would not have a camera indoors and my doorbell use a SD card and is pointing outside. Hopefully, the sight of cameras outside will make a theft think twice.

A dumb phone links to the cells, so in theory they can be traced that way, but the cells here are pretty large, so someone could be anywhere to be honest. I have an app on my phone that tells me what cell my phone is connected to, I can go halfway across the city before it changes.
The thing is, what can you do? You can protect yourself to a certain extent, but smartphones or some way of getting on the net is required to live these days. I know of someone who don't have a mobile phone of any sort, or the net, only have a bank account to get paid and then take most of the money out, and pay all their bills and shopping with cash.
While sometimes I think it would be nice to live that, it is a pain in the backside these days. Years ago, it used to be easy to pay bills that way, but companies make it more difficult.

i do try and use cash when i can.

The thing is what can you do?

You can be aware of the important data you leak and not worry about the trivial information that all companies collect.

Don’t switch your phone on unless you need to use it (does wonders for battery life); don’t let CCTV cameras or smart doorbells anywhere near your house; avoid smart speakers at all cost; relax about the fact that Microsoft might know which applications you use or that Tesco might know what you buy.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

You can be aware of the important data you leak and not worry about the trivial information that all companies collect.

Don’t switch your phone on unless you need to use it (does wonders for battery life); don’t let CCTV cameras or smart doorbells anywhere near your house; avoid smart speakers at all cost; relax about the fact that Microsoft might know which applications you use or that Tesco might know what you buy.

But the Echo dots are useful, and it took me long enough to get them I blame a mate, he introduced me to them, but I would not have anything to do with them, he even lent me one, but it stayed in the box in the hallway. He showed how they work at his house. But nope, never wanted one.
Then I changed energy company, and they offered me a smart thermostat, I thought that would be useful, able to control it while out of the house. Then my mate lent me the dot again connecting it up to the thermostat and the rest is history, sadly I got hooked into this smart home stuff.

As I said my cameras are outside so if anyone hacks into them, they will see outside,
I turn my phone off in at work, as I put it in my locker, while we are allowed phones now, I see no point in having it on me at work. But if i switch my phone off at home or out, I would get shot.

With Microsoft it is not just applications, it has been proved that personal data sometimes end up going to their servers, one reason I don't use online storage
As for Tescos, i don't use them. Aldi and Lidl normally, with a bit of Iceland and a tiny bit of Sainsburys. My main problem with Loyalty cards is that they are just another thing to muck around with and little gain

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

But the Echo dots are useful

A lot of people find Microsoft Windows even more useful than a smart speaker.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

Don’t switch your phone on unless you need to use it (does wonders for battery life);

Great until you want to be called <rolls eyes>. Landlines go to internet services starting this year, and many of us don't have a landline anymore.

I’m quite happy to switch my phone off and be free from interruptions. My service has a voicemail option.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

I’m quite happy to switch my phone off and be free from interruptions. My service has a voicemail option.

I guess you don't have vulnerable adults or children that you need to respond to calls about their care?? There are a LOT of different reasons, one size does not fit all.