Privacy begins with the operating system.
Hi, everyone. Leo Notenboom here for
Askleo.com.
It's one of those things that we talk
about a lot, privacy across a wide variety of systems and services and all these
different things we're using with technology today.
When Windows 10 was released, what is it, over five, six years ago now?
There was a big brouhaha about the default privacy settings.
Apparently, the original versions not only hid what they were doing or made
the defaults really hard to opt out of, but they were sending a lot of information
to Microsoft that had people rightfully concerned.
What's interesting about this is it highlights just how much trust
we're putting into all of the systems and services we're using.
And like I said, it starts with the operating system.
The operating system,
by the nature of the job it's being asked to do, can see everything.
When you write a file to disk, it's the operating system that does it.
When you send information across
the network, the internet or locally, it's the operating system that does it.
When you display something on your screen, when you type something on your keyboard,
when you move your mouse, when you record your voice,
when you play a video, these are all things that are
fundamentally done through the operating system.
That's its job.
But it does mean that the operating system has access to absolutely everything.
There's no way around that.
That's how it works.
And it's something we really don't think
about that much until these privacy debacles happen to hit the headlines.
Now, I want to be clear.
It's not just Windows.
Every operating system you use has exactly the same situation,
be it Macs, be it Linux, be it Android, be it iPhones.
The operating systems on these devices are
tasked with the job of doing the things you ask them to do.
And that means that, yeah,
they can access all of the information, all of the stuff you're doing.
Again, that's their job.
Now, one of the, I'll call it an extremely
frustrating aspect of my job, is that I will often hear from people
who are upset, be it at Microsoft or Apple or Google or
somebody, because of some privacy related issue.
They will claim that these organizations
are evil, that they're conspirators, that they're doing all sorts of things.
I'm not even going to debate that.
The point is,
the reason that it's so frustrating is that I'll hear people complain about
Microsoft using Windows and a Microsoft account.
I'll hear people complain about Google from a Gmail account.
Folks, if the systems bother you that much, why are you using them?
Now, indeed, there are situations where you have no choice.
Perhaps your school or your work is insisting you use a particular operating
system or a particular piece of software that you personally don't agree with.
It happens.
Why are you using it anywhere else?
If you don't like Windows,
if you don't trust Microsoft, don't use Microsoft software.
Use something else. There are so many alternatives.
If you don't like Apple, don't use Apple software.
If you don't like Google, don't use Android software.
You get the idea here, right?
You have so many choices.
Again, when you're running Windows, you're trusting Microsoft.
When you're running a Mac, you are trusting Apple.
On Linux, you're trusting an array of independent developers as well as
the sponsor of the particular distribution you happen to be using.
When it comes to mobile devices, again,
Android and Chrome OS, you're trusting Google.
And to some degree,
you're trusting everybody that I just mentioned for Linux.
In iOS, once again, you're trusting Apple.
The pragmatic reality here is that in order to get anything done,
to make use of any of this technology, yeah, we need to make choices.
We need to choose operating systems from vendors that we,
I wouldn't even necessarily say trust, but can at least live with.
That's important to understand.
If you're not comfortable using software X, then don't use software X.
As for me, I run them all and I'm not concerned.
I run Windows, I run a Mac, I run Linux, I run all of these different things.
I've got an Android, I've got an iPad that's now running iOS.
I'm okay with that.
It doesn't bother me.
But that's just me.
That's my nature.
And honestly, it's part of the job.
If you feel otherwise, behave otherwise, regardless of who you do or do not trust.
Understand what is and is not possible.
Understand how much you are
implicitly trusting the developers and the providers of the software you use.
Make intentional decisions and do what makes sense for you.
For updates, for comments,
for links related to this topic and more, visit
Askleo.com/26335.
I'm Leo Notenboom and this is Askleo.com.
Thanks for watching.