If you have Windows 10 installed, you may be sharing your data with Microsoft without even knowing it.
That's why Brazil (yes, the country) announced this week it is suing Microsoft.
The problem, Brazilian prosecutors say, is that when you install Windows 10, the default setting is for your device to collect and share several kinds of data.
As Reuters reports, Brazil believes this is essentially "automatic" and thus a violation of privacy:
Prosecutors asked that the company stop within 15 days its “automatic collection of data” by Windows 10. They are also demanding that Microsoft include alerts for consumers when they install the software, so that they better understand “the consequences of authorizing the transfer of data.
The Brazilian authorities added that their lawsuit was asking that Microsoft be fined 10 million reais ($2.87 million) and 100,000 reais for each day it does not comply with prosecutors’ demands.
Surely Microsoft would never use that data we share to sell us anything, right?
Well, not exactly. TechRepublic reported on this angle:
The first issue is that Windows 10 automatically assigns an advertising ID to each user on a device tied to the email address that's on file. Using that ID, the company can tailor ads for web-browsing and using certain applications.
This whole thing seems odd at a time when privacy is such a hot topic, doesn't it?