Microsoft builds on Recall with Gaming Copilot — fails basic privacy tests
doublepulsar.com
Gaming Copilot, rolling out now to Windows 11, adds a new attack surface to Windows.

The software is labelled Beta, but is being pushed out to existing PCs anyway because… well… why not beta something in prod, it’s 2025 after all.

It appears in Game Bar, which is accessible from Windows Key + G. You may not have it yet as they are staging deployment. I’m not in Windows Insiders, but I have it installed — so it looks like the roll out is becoming wide. Note that I had uninstalled Copilot from my PC… but Gaming Copilot silently installed anyway.

It is similar to Recall, except not all the processing is done locally — it relies on the cloud. It screenshots gameplay, and then extracts elements of the screen (such as symbols and text) to work out what the player is doing. The idea is it can help you game, e.g. you can ask questions about what you’re doing in the game at a given moment.

  • jstin86457@lemmy.worldEnglish
    652·
    1 day ago

    I’m happily typing this from a Linux machine but it pisses me off that the vast majority of people will be OK with this, won’t know about it, or won’t care.

    Big Tech has learned how to perfectly boil the frog.

    • piskertariot@lemmy.worldEnglish
      20·
      1 day ago

      I intentionally installed the Xbox Game Bar a few years ago. After doing so, it associated my Xbox login with my Windows PC, and linked the 2, switching my Windows10 user to my Xbox login.

      Hard pass.

      My response was to switch to Linux.

    • woelkchen@lemmy.worldEnglish
      26·
      1 day ago

      the vast majority of people will be OK with this

      I don’t think the vast majority of Windows users are even aware of the Xbox Game Bar to begin with, let alone all the features there.

    • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.auEnglish
      13·
      19 hours ago

      I feel like you don’t even understand what this is going by what you just said. Unless you literally turn this feature on, then open the Xbox game bar and go to the widget and select to use it - it’s not just some “always on” thing, you have to open it to use it - then it doesn’t do anything.

      Where is the issue?

      • woelkchen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        9 hours ago

        Unless you literally turn this feature on, then open the Xbox game bar and go to the widget and select to use it - it’s not just some “always on” thing, you have to open it to use it - then it doesn’t do anything.

        “You can disable the Gaming Copilot widget from the game bar, however from experimentation so far the network traffic is still running with the user interface not open — I don’t know if this is a feature or a bug.”