Windows 10 telemetry services continue to be the subject of much discussion about end-user privacy.
Although Microsoft has reportedly updated its telemetry practices in Windows 10 to improve it privacy and transparency about the process collectionof data, observers from around the world continue to look into the issue, giving Microsoft guidance on how to comply with their demands.
A recent analysis of telemetry services in Windows 10 conducted by the German Federal Office for Information Security, officially known as the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, or BSI for short, shows us how telemetry works in the operating system.
BSI has tested the so-called Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) providers used by Microsoft to collect data at different telemetry levels in Windows 10.
The study reveals that the differences in data collection processes in Windows 10 Home are minimal, despite the two different levels of Full and Basic telemetry. Microsoft seems to have access to a significantly increased amount of information. Note that in Windows 10 Home, users can only choose between basic and full telemetry levels.
The German Federal Office also inspected the IP addresses to which Windows 10 connected to send the information they obtained from end users. Most servers are in the United States, but they do exist servers in Ireland and the Netherlands.
Microsoft, of course, states that the information collected is used for the sole purpose of improving Windows 10, and that data transmitted to its servers is fully encrypted and securely stored without personal information.
You can read the full BSI report in English from here (PDF).
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