Windows 10: Microsoft uploads PC details without consent

I have a Microsoft account that I use with an Outlook 2016 client as well as in the Windows 10 Mail app but nothing else, i.e no Find My Device, no sharing of content across devices, no store purchases, no Cortana nor anything else. I sign in to my Windows 10 PC using a local account and I have specifically selected the option ‘Apps need to ask me to use this account’ under account settings.


Recently I signed in to my MS account in a browser and to my surprise there is a tab called Devices where a whole lot of information is listed about my PC, such as PC name, disks and partitions as well as their labels, space used and whether BitLocker is used or not. Obviously these details are incorrectly associated with the account. They can be deleted only to appear again after some time.


I can see that this information may somehow be required when sharing content or perhaps when using a MS account to sign in locally. In my use case though, besides being an obvious security issue, it really seems like a pretty serious privacy breach as I have never given permissions for MS to upload these details to their servers. It also begs the question what other information is uploaded without my consent?


I would appreciate if someone from Microsoft who is familiar with this could tell me what is going on here.


Cheers

:)

 

Microsoft uploads PC details without consent

Haha, you're right, life as far as privacy in general and staying secure online really is a continuous question of compromises these days.

I'm sure many people go to extremes such as paying for everything with cash and using Tor for any online interaction. I'm not one of those.

However, my question relates specifically to Microsoft uploading details that I never given consent to being collected (as far as I know). They then associate these details with an account that in no way is bound to the details, at least no more than if
the same details would be collected the same way if I checked my email in an Internet Cafe or similar.

The key issue here is consent, as is the reason for the Cambridge Analytica backlash and the implementation of GDPR and other crackdown on data collection.

I have no issue at all with the use of any data I may provide as long as I have specifically given consent to it being collected and used according to published
TOS.

 

Microsoft uploads PC details without consent

I have a Microsoft account that I use with an Outlook 2016 client as well as in the Windows 10 Mail app but nothing else, i.e no Find My Device, no sharing of content across devices, no store purchases, no Cortana nor anything else. I sign in to my Windows
10 PC using a local account and I have specifically selected the option ‘Apps need to ask me to use this account’ under account settings.

Recently I signed in to my MS account in a browser and to my surprise there is a tab called Devices where a whole lot of information is listed about my PC, such as PC name, disks and partitions as well as their labels, space used and whether BitLocker is
used or not. Obviously these details are incorrectly associated with the account. They can be deleted only to appear again after some time.

I can see that this information may somehow be required when sharing content or perhaps when using a MS account to sign in locally. In my use case though, besides being an obvious security issue, it really seems like a pretty serious privacy breach as I
have never given permissions for MS to upload these details to their servers. It also begs the question what other information is uploaded without my consent?

I would appreciate if someone from Microsoft who is familiar with this could tell me what is going on here.

Cheers

 

Microsoft uploads PC details without consent

Hi Kurt

When you say you have deleted the device info but it comes back, was it through the following steps?

Go to account.microsoft.com/devices, sign in, and find the device you want to remove.

Select Show details to see info for that device.

Under your device's name, select More actions > Remove.

Review your device details, select the check box, I'm ready to remove this device, then select Remove.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/402644...