The recent push for AI in Windows may have you considering alternatives. You’ve probably considered macOS, but there are important privacy-related considerations to make first. I will detail why both Windows and macOS are terrible options and why Linux is the only sensible choice.
Microsoft Copilot Can See and Hear Everything You Do
Most Windows users are familiar with Microsoft Recall, but for those who are unaware, it’s an AI technology that records your screen for future reference. Initially, the data it collected was stored insecurely on the user’s device. But after significant backlash, Microsoft now claims that it’s stored securely. Problem solved, right? No, because Recall is only half the story.
For me, the real privacy issues are with the cloud. When your data leaves your device, it essentially belongs to someone else—and on the cloud, it belongs to the corporation (and their customers). Many people mistrust these new AI-capable systems because, deep down, they know it’s a way for big tech to hoover up all their data, and they’re not wrong.
Microsoft Copilot is your data-hungry, cloud-native, “artificially intelligent,” synthetic friend that intimately understands your personal data. While these robots are not truly intelligent, they still represent a significant risk to personal autonomy and privacy. These AI personal assistants represent an unprecedented level of access to our personal lives. While big tech has been harvesting our preferences for years, we’ve always had tools to fight it: ad blockers, pseudonyms, VPNs, etc. Now, these AI systems can process and predict our actions and preferences right on our devices. It’s only a generation or two away from something far more invasive.
While Copilot is not a problem for everyone, it is for many, but those people apparently don’t matter. Microsoft is forcing AI upon all Windows users, and so you have no option: get on board, or see yourself out. The data collection will likely deepen over the coming years as it always does, and it could potentially be exposed to thousands of people who have legal access to it.
On the other hand, Linux doesn’t force AI features upon you, collect your data, or have an AI system looking over your shoulder, so there’s nothing to worry about. The people at all levels of the Linux ecosystem are philosophically averse to user spying. I remember the uproar in 2012 when Canonical tracked user searches, with Richard Stallman calling it literal spyware. It’s safe to say that privacy, honesty, and openness are fundamental principles within the Linux ecosystem. It just makes sense to consider Linux as a viable alternative.
Apple’s Privacy Stance Is Questionable
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People often debate Apple’s privacy stance, with some swearing by it and others mistrusting it. To go by Apple’s own privacy policy, it can be boiled down to one simple idea: your data is safe from third parties, but Apple can do what they want with it.
Reading through Apple’s privacy policy, a few things struck me: Apple can…
- Collect your personal data, including your browsing and search history, your financial and health data, and, of course, your name and contact details
- Purchase your personal data from any legal source
- Advertise to you
- Share data with third parties to process or store it
While Apple may not collect all such data on macOS, they do reserve the right to do so, which makes me uncomfortable.
Sharing data with third parties also has some potentially serious consequences. We don’t live in a perfect world, and individuals often act selfishly, unprofessionally, and sometimes maliciously. Third parties that receive your personal data can (illegally) do anything they want with it, and you may never know.
In 2019, contractors employed to grade personal data from Siri blew the whistle on Apple’s mishandling of user data. They claim they frequently encountered highly personal recordings, such as conversations between doctors and patients, criminals, and even intimate moments between couples. They go on to state that the data is essentially at risk from nefarious actors. We don’t live in a perfect world, and it’s naive to think that everyone follows the rules.
On top of the privacy issues with Siri and the personal data that Apple collects:
- Apps on macOS also frequently collect telemetry data.
- Apple Intelligence processes some personal details off-device through their Private Cloud Compute, and we can only take Apple at their word that it’s private.
- iCloud is not fully end-to-end encrypted by default, because Apple has access to the private keys.
Whether or not you trust Apple with your data is beside the point; Apple has your data, and they do share it with third parties, not to mention the employees at Apple—that’s potentially thousands of people. Privacy doesn’t mean “as long as they don’t sell my information”; it means your personal life is free from prying eyes—whether they work at Apple, Microsoft, or a third-party advertising agency. Apple has done a good job convincing people that privacy violations are okay, as long as they do it.
On Linux, there is no privacy policy to sign, your data never leaves your device, and there is no data collection or advertising on the operating system level. While Linux takes time to learn (like any operating system), it’s a price worth paying to maintain true autonomy.
Both Microsoft and Apple are in the data collection game. While Apple offers its users some level of privacy, I wouldn’t trust either of them. Apple collects your intimate details for itself, and one can only speculate what Microsoft does with your data. With Linux, you get absolute transparency and a community that truly cares about privacy. If you care about privacy, not considering Linux is like not considering water when you’re dying of thirst.
