Society just needs to get over this AI fad atm. By which I’m not trying to say that AI won’t revolutionize pretty much everything in our lives eventually, but first we need to figure out what it can actually be useful for. Or rather non-tech people need to be fully introduced to both its benefits and its pitfalls before tech companies will have a clear picture of where the red lines are for people ideologically speaking. We the nerds have our moral compass figured out but we’re a minority when it comes to who these products are made for.
Leave it to Microsoft to come up with the most dystopian AI concept yet. But to be honest I’d be way more wary of a company like Alphabet for whom data collection is much more central to their business model and who know how to package their spyware neatly. Microsoft announcing this as a feature from a podium shows how tonedeaf they are but I’d argue it also shows that they’re not following some self-serving plan behind the scenes to take advantage of that thing they’re so proud of publically (a mass espionage at which I firmly believe they wouldn’t be anywhere near efficient enough if they tried). They really must’ve thought that this is what can get Windows back into the limelight. It is Microsoft’s problem of our time that with everyone being on smartphones and tablets now they are losing traction in the consumer market by the day.
Point being (as far as the valid privacy concerns go) that Microsoft were never in the data business. They’re just really really bad at understanding what consumers want out of an operating system. I got my first own PC in 2001 right when XP came out. They’ve always been bad at making things work for the user. And since Vista all they’ve really been doing is copying Apple’s eyecandy. First off of macOS (then OS X), now with Windows 11 they basically want to look like a tablet OS with app icons once again after that idea failed spectacularly under Windows 8. I’m basically just rambling at this point but it should go to illustrate their lacklustre corporate decisionmaking. I wouldn’t be worried about their potential desire much less their ability to compromise that Recall data. Yes it’s a hugely concerning concept from a privacy standpoint and every step to circumvent its analysis should and arguably must be taken, but I also wouldn’t lose sleep over the data it is collecting on other people’s machines.
Besides what others have said basically asking “what is it that you’re trying to protect (from)?” I would say the main questions in terms of usage are, are you on a degoogled Android phone and are you using Linux on your Desktop yet?
Yea sure VPNs are nice but I personally often feel like I don’t want to have to hide behind someone else’s IP-Address just to add a layer of obfuscation to the data-collectors. If your browser is clean and working for you there is no need for a VPN (unless you need it for the sake of coming from a different geolocation). If your Operating System isn’t Open Source it can be assumed to be tracking you with or without a VPN.
There are definitely downsides (especially in terms of convenience) to using Android without Google on it. If those inconveniences are too much for you (as you are alluding to in your described hassles) then it’s probably just a question of which desire is stronger. That for certain privacy or that for ease of use.
Yet there’s no backlash because they’re not so stupid as to say “we’re gonna take screenshots as you go so we can improve your digital life kthxbye”.