Windows 10 Data Policy is Optionally Coming to Older Operating Systems

The recently revised “Microsoft Services Agreement” has caused a great deal of controversy and could theoretically disable pirated games and unauthorized software. Additionally there are concerns about Microsoft’s data policy in regards to monitoring user activity. It’s still unclear what the true extent of these updated terms are, but some users have reverted back to older operating systems due to privacy concerns. However, Microsoft is now implementing updates in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 which report information back to Microsoft’s servers.  The updates in question are KB3075249 and KB3080149 and designed to:

KB3075249 “Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 ”

KB3080149 “This update aligns down-level devices on the same UTC binary that’s released in Windows 10. This update would enable all the down-level devices to receive the software updates, design updates, and additional power and performance tuning.”

Once updated, your PC will share data in a similar vein to Windows 10. Whether you’re happy with this or not is all down to user-preference. You could argue, that there is no privacy online, and Microsoft requires this information to customizable apps such as Cortana to your needs. On the other hand, other users will feel aggrieved by this intrusive data sharing and decided to dismiss Windows 10 for this very reason. Most importantly, the updates are optional and Windows cannot under any circumstances, apply the updates automatically. Although, this could change in the future.

If Microsoft do make this an integral system update, you can always disable Windows Update.

Are you concerned with the new Microsoft Services Agreement or feel people are being overly paranoid?

Thank you TechWorm for providing us with this information.