Microsoft released new information about the data it has collected through Windows 10. Though little was known about what the system was tracking, now that the data has been released, people are concerned with just how much information Windows is keeping track of.
With the popularity of the new free operating system, Microsoft decided to show some statistics on what it’s collected about its users. According to BGR, some of the achievements of Windows are:
“People have spent over 11 billion hours on Windows 10 in December alone.
- Over 44.5 billion minutes spent in Microsoft Edge across Windows 10 devices in just the last month.
- Over 2.5 billion questions asked of Cortana since launch.
- Around 30% more Bing search queries per Windows 10 device vs. prior versions of Windows.
- Over 82 billion photos viewed within the Windows 10 Photo app.
- Gaming continues to grow on Windows 10 – in 2015, gamers spent over 4 billion hours playing PC games on Windows 10.
- Gamers have streamed more than 6.6 million hours of Xbox One games to Windows 10 PCs.”
Considering the system was released less than a year ago, the stats are remarkable. However, people are concerned over whether or not the data collected by Windows 10 is a threat to user privacy. Some are still weary over why it took Microsoft so long to announce that Windows 10 was collecting user data to begin with. Microsoft made no statement about the kind of data it was getting from its users until November of 2015. Forbes had a quote from Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore:
“In the cases where we’ve not provided options, we feel that those things [collected data] have to do with the health of the system,” he said. “In the case of knowing that our system that we’ve created is crashing, or is having serious performance problems…”
He attempts to put to rest the worries of those who wonder what exactly is Microsoft looking at when collecting information. From the information being given out now, it seems to have little to do with the integrity of the system. Things like photos being viewed and the search queries being put into Bing seem to be more personal information than one might have originally presumed. It also raises the question of whether the system is sharing what photos you are looking at and what exactly you are putting into the search bar. While Microsoft may feel this is for the betterment of the operating system, others may disagree on what they feel to be important information. Martin Brinkmann of gHacks explained the worry some consumers may not like this:
“The statistics indicate that Microsoft may be collecting more data than initially thought,” writes Brinkmann. “While it is unclear what data is exactly collected, it is clear that the company is collecting information about the use of individual applications and programs on Windows at the very least.”
That’s what’s unsettling to some who may use Windows 10: the fact that it is uncertain exactly what Microsoft is getting. Hopefully, as time goes on, Microsoft will release more information to aid in easing the minds of its users.
Featured Image by Roger via flickr under a Creative Commons License.
