Hot Take More info about privacy controls in the new 'Recall' feature in Windows 11

[silversurfer]

Source: Microsoft shares more info about privacy controls in the new 'Recall' feature in Windows 11 - Neowin

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Microsoft officially unveiled the "Recall" feature at its special event on May 20, 2024. The company pitched it as a new experience with "photographic" memory, capable of remembering literally everything you do on your computer so that you can go back to any app or file whenever you like it. Naturally, that sounds very fishy to some users, so Microsoft published a new support page with a detailed explanation of available privacy controls.

You can learn more about privacy measures Microsoft uses in the new Recall experience in a document on the official support page. The first Copilot+ PCs with Recall and other AI-based experiences will start shipping in June 2024 (some features will arrive later).

 

[Bot]

Microsoft has addressed privacy concerns surrounding the new 'Recall' feature in Windows 11. The feature has an extensive memory, allowing users to revisit any app or file at any time. Microsoft has outlined privacy controls for this feature in an official support document. The first PCs with this feature will start shipping in June 2024.

 

[SpiderWeb]

It's an AI keylogger. I'm not worried about tech savvy people like ys, what about older and very young people who have zero clue that this is collecting all their data and accidentally hand it over to a malicious party with a single wrong keystroke? I have very strong reservations about this. What even is the point of sandboxing and using secure and private applications when an AI like this will most likely not care to distinguish between sensitive and personal information? I have about zero doubt that Microsoft will use this to collect data at the very least to train their AI and troubleshoot so saying it's all on-device is a lie right out of the box.

 

[NormanF]

You can't uninstall the Recall App.

If you attempt to remove all registry references to it, it stays put.

Must be hardcoded into 26100.712.

 

[silversurfer]

Windows 11 24H2's exclusive AI feature Recall has already been ported to existing hardware​

Recall, the feature Microsoft announced for Windows 11 at its May 20 event, is certainly an interesting addition to the operating system. Unfortunately, getting your hands on it requires buying one of the recently unveiled Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Series processors. However, as expected, enthusiasts have already backported Recall to existing hardware, even on quite low-powered Windows on ARM devices.

Albacore, who goes by the @thebookisclosed on X, announced today that they managed to get Recall working on a quite low-end PC with the Snapdragon 7cx processor and 4GB of RAM. Although the 7cx is an ARM chip, it does not have a built-in NPU, plus just 3.4GB of available memory makes things seemingly much more challenging (especially considering that the official requirement is a minimum of 16GB RAM).

Windows 11 24H2's exclusive AI feature Recall has already been ported to existing hardware

Windows 11 version 24H2's best feature, Recall, requires new hardware, namely a Copilot+ PC. However, to no one's surprise, enthusiasts have already backported it to existing, even low-end hardware.

www.neowin.net

 

[Victor M]

Low resource programming challenges belong to the mainframe days.

 

[silversurfer]

The controversial Recall feature for Windows 11 devices labeled as Copilot+ PCs was supposed to launch alongside those laptops in June. However, at the last minute, the Recall feature, which was supposed to track everything you did on your PC so you could literally recall almost anything, first got changed to an "opt-in" experience and then was removed completely from the first wave of Copilot+ PCs.

On June 13, Microsoft said that in order to address concerns about the security and safety of Recall, it would "shift from a preview experience" over "to a preview available first in the Windows Insider Program (WIP) in the coming weeks."

Microsoft updated that initial announcement with news about when Recall would be available for members of the Windows Insider Program. It stated:
"With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we’re sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October. As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs. Security continues to be our top priority and when Recall is available for Windows Insiders in October we will publish a blog with more details."

Windows 11 Recall feature for Copilot+ PCs won't start public testing until October

Microsoft has updated a blog post about the status of its Recall feature for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs. The feature will begin testing for members of the Windows Insider Program in October

www.neowin.net

 

[Wrecker4923]

It's an AI keylogger. I'm not worried about tech savvy people like ys, what about older and very young people who have zero clue that this is collecting all their data and accidentally hand it over to a malicious party with a single wrong keystroke?

Yes, it sounds like all it takes is to prove that it's you by either biometrics or PIN. This is on top of not knowing what app is initiating the authentication process, and user hurrying to get things done, sometimes not paying attention.

It sounds like a nice feature for the forgetful, though. You might have to pay with your privacy and definitely the need to be super-careful about approving anything. The infostealers will have its days, nonetheless.