Microsoft takes a step back with Windows Recall: it still has to go back a marathon

Like an all-seeing Big Brother, Windows Recall wants to record everything you do on your PC, so an AI can analyze it.

Microsoft presented a couple of weeks ago Windows Recallone of the star tools of Copilot+ PC. A tool that left security experts with their mouths open, and their chins touching the ground. Today Microsoft has rectified, a little. But his idea of ​​putting AI above all else continues.

Windows Recall is an AI function Available only on new laptops with Copilot+, on sale starting June 18. Make a copy of everything you do on your PCso that an AI will analyze it and you can find information that you used in the past, by asking the AI.

When I say everything, it is everything: a screenshot every five seconds, date and time recording of the apps you use, the photos, videos and websites you see, the logs, messages, documents… Everything.

Microsoft tweaks Windows Recall

All this information is stored locally, in a secure area, and the AI ​​works locally, so no information comes out of your PC.

And what is Windows Recall for? Microsoft’s idea is that you can ask the AI ​​about that website you visited last Sunday, that you don’t remember the name of. Because of the people who appeared in the photos you took on your field trip, some information from an email, the name of the restaurant you saw in a video… This feature is enabled by default.

As is easy to imagine, The idea has not been very well received by almost anyone.. Windows Recall consumes resources in the background, since it is constantly capturing screens and recording what you do. It also needs several dozen GB of hard drive.

From a usage point of view… Is it really worth so much effort and so much intrusion, just to remind you of things you did? If you analyze your time using your PC… How much time do you spend searching for something you did? Only occasionally, not constantly.

From an existential point of view… Are we really willing to an intelligent AI records absolutely everything we do on the PC, store it, and know everything about us? It’s a question that extends to the rest of AI.

But those who have put their hands on their heads are security experts. Many of them have tested the Windows Recall preview, and have found security holes “that fit an airplane through,” they have even said.

Things like what Your activity database is stored in plain textor that the information was not encrypted, according to account The Verge. So hackers have developed tools like TotalRecall either NetExecwhich directly copy all the content that Windows Recall stores, in order to analyze and spy on it.

Microsoft has responded today to these criticismswith a series of changes that compiles on your blog.

First of all, image capture storage in Windows Recall will be optional. It will no longer be activated by default, this will be decided by users when configuring Copilot+. That this is a rectification, and not the original option, is incomprehensible.

Pavan Davuluri, the corporate vice president of Windows, says that All information will be encrypted and protected by several layers of hardware security that the new PCs with Copilot+ have, such as the Pluton security chip, and the encryption systemWindows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security (ESS)associated with biometric identification.

In order to access the stored content of Recall, it will now be necessary to use Windows Hello, that is, facial identification or through fingerprints, so the content will be protected, even if your PC is stolen.

And although I do not doubt this security, The most secure PCs have been hacked and exploited by malware and other spy tools. Not to mention the attack it represents on privacy, although theoretically nothing leaves your PC.

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, appealed to his employees a few weeks ago, asking them to put security before anything else. This is not what these last-minute patches convey to security holes detected by users. Copilot+ with Windows Recall reaches customers on June 18.

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Tags: Artificial intelligence, Microsoft, Windows 11