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Mike Gerwitz 6733c6ecc8
Windows 8.1 to display targeted advertisements on local system searches 
It is very disturbing that [Microsoft decided that it would be a good idea
to display targeted ads on local searches][0]---that is, if you search for a
file on your PC named ``finances'', you may get ads for finance software,
taxes, etc. If you search for ``porn'', well, you get the idea.

  Bing Ads will be an integral part of this new Windows 8.1 Smart Search
  experience. Now, with a single campaign setup, advertisers can connect
  with consumers across Bing, Yahoo! and the new Windows Search with highly
  relevant ads for their search queries. In addition, Bing Ads will include
  Web previews of websites and the latest features like site links, location
  and call extensions, making it easier for consumers to complete tasks and
  for advertisers to drive qualified leads.[1]

While that is certainly obnoxious, consider the larger issue of privacy
(which seems to be in the news a lot lately[2][3]): Late last year, there
was an uproar in the Free Software community when [Ubuntu decided to query
Amazon---enabled by default---on local searches][4] using their new Unity
interface. The problem is that your personal queries are being sent to a
third party---queries that you generally would expect to be private. If I
run a `find' or `grep' command on my system, I certainly do not expect it to
report to Amazon or Microsoft what I am searching for.

And to make matters even worse, Microsoft is exploiting this information to
allow advertisers to target you. [Ironic.][5]

[Do not use Windows 8][6] (or any other proprietary software, for that
matter).

[0] http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241524/Steven_J._Vaughan_Nichols_Microsoft_Bing_bang_bungles_local_search
[1] http://community.bingads.microsoft.com/ads/en/bingads/b/blog/archive/2013/07/02/new-search-ad-experiences-within-windows-8-1.aspx
[2] [cref:2d97ce3e654c74345794bedcbcca215cfaf75e20]
[3] [cref:c9a9837b4f23c1e350d270d9782544fdef705bc0]
[4] http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do
[5] http://www.scroogled.com/email/
[6] https://www.fsf.org/windows8
 		2013-08-12 23:01:01 -04:00
docs Added images/COPYING and license for GNU page fold image 2013-06-16 22:47:39 -04:00
images :Oops; committed missing CC-BY-SA image 2013-08-11 12:39:46 -04:00
tools :Corrected dest dir creation bug with doc-cp 2013-06-16 13:23:39 -04:00
tpl All creative content (e.g. thoughts) now licensed under CC BY-SA 2013-06-16 20:35:22 -04:00
.gitignore Added rss.xml to .gitignore 2013-06-04 22:50:33 -04:00
.gitmodules Added coope 2013-06-03 22:28:13 -04:00
COPYING All creative content (e.g. thoughts) now licensed under CC BY-SA 2013-06-16 20:35:22 -04:00
COPYING.CCBYSA All creative content (e.g. thoughts) now licensed under CC BY-SA 2013-06-16 20:35:22 -04:00
COPYING.GPLv3 All creative content (e.g. thoughts) now licensed under CC BY-SA 2013-06-16 20:35:22 -04:00
Makefile All creative content (e.g. thoughts) now licensed under CC BY-SA 2013-06-16 20:35:22 -04:00
README Added intial pages 2013-06-02 12:27:02 -04:00
asciidoc.conf mg.css fully merged into core style; consistency between article and repo2html formats 2013-05-25 11:51:41 -04:00
style.css Adjusted footer image and font size for smallest layout 2013-06-16 20:47:14 -04:00

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The miscellaneous thoughts and ramblings of a free software hacker.

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http://mikegerwitz.com/