Russian Lawyers want ban Windows 10 from govt offices

Moscow Lawyers complain to prosecutors over Windows 10 privacy, the Microsoft operating system is accused spying on its users and collect their data.

Russian lawyers have filed a complaint calling for restricting the sale of Windows 10 in Russia, the action urges because the newborn OS spy on users violating Russian laws.

Starting July 29, and for the next 12 months, the new Windows 10 operating system can be installed for free on computers running previous versions of Windows OS, it has been estimated that more than 14 million users installed it within the first 24 hours of the release.

Moscow lawyers report Windows 10 data privacy risks to the Prosecutor General, the new Windows OS collects user location, credentials, browsing history.

The lawyers affirm that the uploading of the information to Microsoft’s cloud, debated by many experts  and privacy advocates, violates current Russian privacy legislation.

Of course, there are also groups of experts that defend Microsoft and its technology. The Russian Association for Electronic Communications sustains that it is possible to avoid Windows 10 collecting user data by applying the necessary settings, in other words it doesn’t violate any privacy law.

Vadim Solovyov, a Communist Party deputy called for the Prosecutor General’s Office to review Microsoft’s technology due to the accusations of espionage on its users.

Solovyov sustains that Windows OSs are the primary choice for many Russian government agencies, for this reason it is important to assess the Microsoft technology and information circulating on the Windows 10 OS demonstrates that it could represent a threat to homeland security. The adoption of Windows 10 in government agencies could result in the leakage of classified information.

A spokesman for Microsoft denied the allegations to RIA Novosti.

“The new operating system offers users the choice of how they want it to handle their data and users can change the settings at any point,” a Microsoft spokesman said a Microsoft spokesman to the news agency.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Windows 10, privacy)