Microsoft has started rolling out a.i. to its Windows Operating System for PCs. This “feature” pretends to make it easier to find documents on a computer.
What they should have done is create a reverse index for document retrieval by contents keyword. That proven technology has been around for decades, and doesn’t use a.i.
Microsoft’s tendency to force a.i. unto users of its Windows operating system poses significant threats to privacy and the safety of corporate secrets.
For those of us who have a business to protect, what operating systems help safeguard privacy?
I thought that surely it couldn’t be that bad. But…
“Recall uses Copilot+ PC advanced processing capabilities to take images of your active screen every few seconds,” Microsoft says on its website. “The snapshots are encrypted and saved on your PC’s hard drive. You can use Recall to locate the content you have viewed on your PC using search or on a timeline bar that allows you to scroll through your snapshots.”
So it’s a security camera pointing at your screen, but with AI involved.
Honestly though, this sounds like the kind of thing you could hack together with a shell script and OCR on a *NIX system in an afternoon. Cronjob to take screenshots and run them through OCR, keywords to a database. Add hooks to your window manager to take additional screenshots on relevant events (change desktop, application opens/new window on screen, etc.).
bUt iTs Ai InTeGrAtEd
“Encrypted”
It must be secure if it is encrypted. The problem with the Microsoft secret storage is that they key is on the disk.
For individuals, yes. For organizations, no. Orgs who know what they’re doing use a HSM for their data encryption. Thus the title of this post is inaccurate.
But from the consumer side, I am absolutely never going to buy a “Copilot Plus” device, whatever that is.
You may not get much of a choice.
Your username is becoming more and more relevant daily