For months, Windows 10 has been the target of plenty of criticism because of its default data collection practices, and Microsoft is now looking to remedy that in their next update. Last Tuesday, the company revealed a new web-based privacy dashboard that allows customers to personalize their activity tracking preferences.
Microsoft is also planning to introduce a new privacy setup screen which will help guide users through tracking choices and fewer "diagnostic" data collections in any upcoming software releases. Microsoft announced through a blog post on their website that they would be releasing the changes "soon". The blog post also started with a preview version of the software for Windows Insider program members.
After weeks of listening to feedback, the company is now planning to incorporate these changes in its upcoming Creators Update, the first major overhaul of the operating system which has been codenamed "Redstone 2", and is scheduled for release sometime this spring.
The standard data collection policies practiced by Windows 10 have been panned heavily by critics, especially the US-based Electronic Frontier Foundation and a French data protection commission, both of whom have labelled the policies as being "unprecedented" and "excessive". The groups' complaints were primarily targeted towards what they perceived to be informed consent flouted by Microsoft due to its vague privacy options.
The privacy dashboard can now be accessed through this website and lets users manage their search and browsing history, location, and Cortana Notebook data which can be accessed across multiple Microsoft compatible devices.
According to BGR, the new setup experience will feature some notable differences from the previous Express Settings features. In the previous versions Microsoft used to collect data on up to three levels, but with the new update it will be lowered down to only two levels: basic and full. The amount of data collected at the basic level has also been reduced. Per Microsoft, this includes all of the data that is "vital to the operation of windows."
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