Microsoft says that collecting user data is 'not an issue of personal privacy'

Microsoft's corporate vice president for operating systems, Joe Belfiore, has played down users concerns about privacy in Windows 10. According to Belfiore, the information is "helpful to the ecosystem, and so not an issue of personal privacy."

The comments come from an interview with PCWorld in which Belfiore elaborates on Microsoft's often confused position on the connectedness of Windows 10.

Unlike previous versions of the operating system, Windows 10 constantly contacts Microsoft with information about the system, diagnostics, and so on. This has lead to some users being concerned about what is sent back as the data is obscured.

"[I]n the case of knowing that our system that we've created is crashing, or is having serious performance problems, we view that as so helpful to the ecosystem, and so not an issue of personal privacy, that today, we collect that data so that we make that experience better for everyone," Belfiore said.

Microsoft allows users the option of opting out of sending back some data but other tracking features cannot be disabled. These, according to Belfiore, are impersonal and so do not breach privacy. "[I]n the cases where we've not provided options, we feel that those things have to do with the health of the system, and are not personal information or are not related to privacy," he said.