I find it weird how people just learned to accept "we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders)". It feels like vaccination to me. Yes, with Windows 10 you can turn it off (at least that's what we think). But once this becomes the norm, it maybe won't feel so wrong when you can't turn it off any more.

I don't think we're stuck. There are plenty of options, at least for us tech-savvy folks. Often, they are a lot of work to implement though and by far not as well integrated. I understand how convenient it is if you just enter a single user name and password on your new phone or machine and you have all you addresses, calendar, emails, photos, files, etc. back. But the price we pay is enormous imho.

I'm sure most DCers have read 1984. The direction we're heading seems so obvious. Nevertheless, we just don't want to see it, don't want to accept it. After all, you can just turn it off.

-phitsc (August 06, 2015, 11:13 AM)

...or the original 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'.

Just thinking out loud, this reminds me of the cellphones that can be switched on remotely and indetectably, but cannot switch carriers, then methods were found to switch carriers anyway, then the Powers That Be left-brain labeled it 'jail breaking' and tried to outlaw it with oppressive legislation...

But these aren't cellphones, they're PCs with huge sprawling Windows or Windows-alternative OSs that are supposed to be open to creative modifications, and the Windows 10 built-in spyware scene is already creating net-spanning social pressure to do something about it.
And there are alternative OSs to Windows such as Unix, Linux, Apple, and so on.
IOW, it is not a static situation like a tightly sealed box; we can always seek to think outside the 'box' and seek to avoid being 'boxed in'.
That's the virtue of virtual reality; no one entity gets to arbitrarily define it in ways that stay fixed & one-sided with all the rules stacked in their favor.
With cellphones, the self-appointed 'rule-makers' tried to exploit a captive market and cry 'foul' with stupid 'jail breaker' labels.
My PC is no cellphone, but what I'm really getting at is that negative public (i.e. user) feedback to Windows 10 abuses, coupled with people voting with their feet to go elsewhere could theoretically cause Microsoft to backtrack, although at this point it only seems like so much wishful thinking.
But I'm so glad I stuck with WIndows 7 Pro and did not just jump into the free upgrade; it just didn't seem all that inviting to me, nor is it now.

plz ignore if this has already been addressed...
...personally, I'm sticking with Windows 7 Pro, tnx...
Windows 10 Can Collect Your Data For Gov't Agencies - What to Do
quote from the Windows 10 free upgrade Microsoft Services Agreement:
"Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: 1.comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies; 2.protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; [...] ...however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer’s private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement."
((My Translation: With what looks like all AI and no human in the loop, you might could be SWATTED a little more easily by machine error.))
"From Mirror UK ...Microsoft has admitted it collects key information on Windows users, recording the searches they make with Bing, requests spoken to the voice assistant Cortana and even "your typed and handwritten words".
"The tech giant also said it could rifle through a variety of private and personal places."
"European Digital Rights Organisation said that Microsoft had given itself broad rights and would sell your data to third parties. Tech bloggers are upset that the defaults are set for automatic intrusion, as they know how many people will skip through the download without thinking - and give all of their information away."

Windows 10 spies on emails, images, credit cards, more
quote: "“From the moment an account is created, Microsoft begins watching. The company saves customers’ basic information – name, contact details, passwords, demographic data and credit card specifics,” explains a new report from the online Newsweek."
“But it also digs a bit deeper,” the report says.
“Other information Microsoft saves includes Bing search queries and conversations with the new digital personal assistant Cortana; contents of private communications such as email; websites and apps visited (including features accessed and length of time used); and contents of private folders,” the warning explains.
“Furthermore, ‘your typed and handwritten words’ are collected.’”
All of the warnings come from the company’s software privacy statement, which includes the statement that Microsoft collects information “to provide you a personalized user dictionary, help you type and write on your device with better character recognition, and provide you with text suggestions as you type or write.”
"He continued, “If you ever wondered why they’ve made the Windows 10 upgrade free to Win 7 & 8 users, here’s one possible answer. Windows 10 has all sorts of user tracking baked right in.”
"Kirsten Fiedler, of EDR, told the Mail, “Microsoft basically grants itself the right to collect and process everything you do, say and write on your device...”
"The RockPaperShotgun blog posted some instructions for opting out of the Microsoft data collection plan."
The actions won’t, the blog said, reduce the ads seen."

BTW, for those of us with older crashier machines, if you upgrade to Windows 10 and 'turn off all tracking', you better run 'create restore point' a few extra times, or you'll lose your preferred privacy settings without realizing it the next time you get a BSOD.

(post moved by me)