Microsoft: “(Required) We collect required diagnostic data to keep Office secure, up-to-date, and performing as expected on the devices its installed on.”
This is the message that popped up as I tried to open Word on a new installation of Office 365 on my HP laptop. “Required”. Sounds powerful, doesn’t it. It’s “required”, like, you have no choice. Microsoft has no choice: it just has to have access to your computer to browse around and take whatever it wants while you are online. They can’t do anything about it: it’s required.
There is nothing “required” at all. It is pure bullshit. There is no law or regulation that “requires” Microsoft to collect your data. It’s Microsoft telling you to bend over and spread your cheeks– it’s “required”.
And “performing as expected”? Absolutely, like the fat, bulky, cluttered, disordered disaster that, yes, I do expect.
But seriously, Microsoft is telling you that, finally, they are not even going to pretend to give you a choice about allowing them to go onto your computer and ransack your personal data. Your acceptance of these conditions