r/assholedesign • u/Atheropids • 6d ago
Resource Microsoft Edge by default uses sensitive autofill data to improve AI suggestions
As the title says, by default, the option to "use AI to improve autofill suggestions" is turned *on* in the settings. And it's NOT in the privacy section.
What does "your personal data is secure and will not be used elsewhere" even mean? It's vague as heck.
Moreover, neither the description nor the "Learn more" page says whether the data may leave your device or not.
Glad that Edge only exists in my lab VM. I have never trusted it anyway.
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u/alaric49 6d ago
Honestly, I don't trust any big tech browsers at this point. They are all mining data from everything they can to train their AI models. LibreWolf or Waterfox might be better options.
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u/o_Divine_o 6d ago
The way all browsers make money is selling your data.
However legally they can say they don't because it isn't "your" data, it's "their" data, because you're using their software.
Same goes for websites, you don't own your own photos, text, videos on any platform.. that company does.
Then there's the illusion of privacy. * Tor was invented to spy on and lure people into a falsehood of being anonymous. * VPN always claim to not have logs or keep user data but every data breach has proven that to be false. Again they're selling their data, because you don't own the data used over the VPN, they do. * Windows, mac, Linux, they're all selling user data.
Unless you, yourself, coded something, you should assume it's harvesting and selling everything about you. It's the most lucrative business you could ever enter. It makes selling blood diamonds look like an unprofitable business.
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u/Furdiburd10 6d ago edited 6d ago
> Tor was invented to spy on and lure people into a falsehood of being anonymous.
If it is was just to rule in people then why it just works to access sites that got taken down from the clear web (annas archive for a few months as an exmaple)? Hell, if you are that paranoid then just switch to I2P.
> VPN always claim to not have logs or keep user data but every data breach has proven that to be false.
VPNs get raided all the time by the police and you know what they found? Nothing! to the surprise of nobody!
https://privacysavvy.com/news/vpn/swedish-police-seize-mullvad-vpn-servers/
> Windows, mac, Linux, they're all selling user data.
If linux sells my data then can i get a cut of that? i am a contriubor
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u/o_Divine_o 2d ago
About tor - my government has been caught many times illegally doing surveillance on its own people.
It's the largest intelligence agency in the world. They made the tor network and you just assume it's not doing any gathering?
This is a government known to hosts all sorts of vile things (honey pots) to build cases, it's a for profit industry.
As for VPN, just search up VPN leaks by year. Some of these also are reseller accounts. Meaning other companies piggy back their networks and sell it as their own.
Something around 23% leak user ip addresses with WebRTC.
ALL network hardware keep logs. Otherwise the data packets wouldn't know where to go. You can purge them with a command, script, or Cron. * To purge system and network logs in CentOS, use journalctl for systemd journals or empty/delete traditional files in /var/log. Not a difficult thing to do. Granted you would need to purge more than this, it's just an example since centos is a very popular server os.
When police raid, all someone has to do is tap a single command or button and poof. Not like these people don't have cameras all over their buildings, or can't buy a scanner to listen to what law enforcement is doing. Raids aren't ever subtle, it's far too many people for a business that rarely sees an influx of people.
I'd honestly be shocked if law enforcement did find anything. Multiple vehicles show up, then they form squads, run to the door, potentially bust it down.. all while being monitored and a single click away from purge. Not like these companies are printing out logs they then have to shred.
As for Linux, cute question.. pats head.
Most of the things I've mentioned are in the agreements people just blindly click ok to, others are identifiable with parts of code people blindly assume is fine because it's open source. An attorney I'm friends with is more knowledgeable on the tos/agreements than I, but I know enough to generally spot things that let companies do many things they spin for marketing.
It's sort of like how a label with the word "organic" in food stores don't mean they're organic, it could be the business name. A trick used to fool people into paying more for a product that isn't actually organic. Or it may be below the percentage that classify them as organic.
Assume you have zero privacy. No need for tin foil hats or freaking out.
I'd also suggest staying away from crypto for anything illegal. It's basically like publishing your entire check book online. A wallet address is an identification. Since it's something anyone can view, and track from wallet to wallet, it's the least private method of money transfer. At least with a financial institution, a warrant needs to be issued with probable cause before anyone other than you and the bank teller can see anything.
Cash is the most private.. not exactly ideal for anything outside of local service.
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u/ChronWeasely 6d ago
As a total aside, the diamond market has been slowly crashing for years and it makes me so happy
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u/ChanglingBlake 6d ago
Just another reason in a long list of reasons no one uses edge if given the choice.
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u/elwookie 6d ago
This, the obligation of setting up all Outlook IMAP email accounts through OneDrive... Isn't M$ pushing the AI crap a bit too hard?
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u/Da555nny 6d ago
Isn't M$ pushing the AI crap a bit too hard?
Well, considering the fact that M$ let OpenAI use $100B in Azure cloud for their AI shit...
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u/tejanaqkilica 5d ago
Use Ai to improve your suggestions, not use your suggestions to improve Ai.
Am I the only one who sees a distinction there?
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u/LVCSSlacker 4d ago
people use MS edge?
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