A private citizen from the Czech Republic has conducted a thorough traffic analysis on Windows 10 and has come to some alarming conclusions. He has claimed that Windows 10 acts more like a terminal than a classic operating system because of the extent of cloud integration. A large number of the functions are completely dependent on remote servers operated by Microsoft. This means that the amount of data about what is occurring on individual computers sent to Microsoft far exceeds previous operating system – and this could be a serious problem.

Ostensibly, Windows 10 collects a vast amount of data about what individuals are typing on their computers in order to ensure continuity across devices, such as with the autocorrect and prediction fields. In order to achieve this, their system is integrated with keylogging technology and the information collected is sent to an assortment of Windows servers. This is unusual because there are far simpler and less intrusive methods to ensure this continuity than keylogging software which can be used for spying. In addition to this, the notion that it is pure to ensure sharing information across devices seems bogus as the keylogging information is still sent in report form to Microsoft even if the user is not signed into a Microsoft account. This means that Microsoft can still take a record of users’ passwords and other sensitive data even if they are logged out of their Microsoft account.

The individual who conducted the traffic analysis also found that Cortana, which deals with voice recognition, is also sending a vast number of reports to various servers within Microsoft. Again, this happens even if Cortana is fully disabled or uninstalled. It has been speculated that this is part of a project to create a database of voices which could lead to enormous civil liberty abuses.

Unfortunately, it appears that there is no way to block information being transmitted to servers. Microsoft has hardcoded certain IPs which means that even blocking the servers will not prevent information transmission. It appears that if there is an attempt to block the servers that Windows will begin transmitting error messages which maintaining data collection. It will slow down the machine, but it will not prevent any of the transmission traffic.