Germany: Microsoft Agrees to Stop Forcibly Downloading Windows 10 Upgrades

[LASER_oneXM]

source: Germany: Microsoft Agrees to Stop Forcibly Downloading Windows Upgrades

After an 18-month legal battle with Germany's Baden-Würtenberg consumer rights center, Microsoft admitted to wrongdoing when it downloaded over 6GBs of data on user devices during its Windows 10 push in mid and late 2015.

In addition to recognizing its guilt, Microsoft has also agreed to cease any similar practice, at least in Germany, promising not to download any OS upgrade data until the user has given his express permission.

Investigation started in early 2016
The German consumer right agency has started investigating Microsoft at the start of 2016 following a series of complaints from German users and organizations.

Users accused Microsoft of clogging their Internet bandwidth and filling their hard drives with over 6GBs of data needed for the Windows 10 upgrade, which many users didn't want to install anyway.

At the time, this was only one of the many controversial practices that Microsoft used to push Windows 10 on its users. The company was also accused and investigated for breaking user privacy and collecting telemetry data without giving users an option to disable the behavior. This practice was later fixed with the release of the Windows 10 Creators Update, this spring.

Additionally, users criticized Microsoft for pushing ads inside Windows 10 for various products such as Edge, Cortana, and Bing.

In other more worrisome cases, Microsoft stood accused of forcibly starting the Windows 10 upgrade process, even without the users' permission. Some of these upgrades didn't go as smooth as expected, and some users filed a class-action lawsuit this March.

 

[frogboy]

A good decision, it is the way it should be. But I would still keep my machines updated with the latest updates.

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

It must be so. I don't like when someone forces me to do smth if I don't like it. We are free people and should have a choice to do or not

 

[ispx]

automatic / critical / latest updates is fine but forced / non-consensual updates is definitely not done & that is exactly what what was going

on since the introduction of windows 10.

way to go deutschland other nations to take note of this & do the same.

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

a

way to go deutschland other nations to take note of this & do the same.

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;

It is from a German anthem I learned German at school. I still remember many words and can write/read but my German is bad to speak with Germans

 

[Stas]

If Microsoft admitted to wrongdoing they should cease similar practice everywhere.

 

[HaMeR]

good news

 

[ispx]

If Microsoft admitted to wrongdoing they should cease similar practice everywhere.

wishful thinking

 

[Fritz]

Awesome post @NikolayfromRussia, thanks!

Germans are well known for bickering, but in this case I'm glad we did. It's up to us to decide wether we want to be the customer or the product.

 

[212eta]

Germans are well known for bickering...

And not only...

 

[bribon77]

Well done, so Germans, you can not force anyone, and Mricrobugs has done it.
regards!!