Windows 8.1 update FAIL Privacy

Testing out a newer Windows workstation computer for a product review, and really missing the Start button. Was delighted, therefore, to find that Microsoft had released Windows 8.1 today.

Turns out, though, that Microsoft will no longer allow one to install without a Microsoft account. You know those accounts: Xbox Live, Hotmail, other services you may not have used for years.

And to take it one step further, one can't use a Microsoft account to install Windows 8.1 without providing either an alternate email address or a phone number. Microsoft takes its data-collection job for the NSA very seriously.

On the screen titled "Help us protect your account" the company gives a long explanation as to why one should provide these linking details between a Microsoft account and an alternate email or phone number.

Fortunately, at the bottom of the screen, right above the privacy statement, there's a link to "skip this for now". Except clicking the link resulting in a loop that returns one to the "Help us protect your account" screen.

In other words, there's no way to install Windows 8.1 without giving Microsoft additional personal information. The use of a Start button isn't worth Microsoft adding a notch to its NSA belt, so Windows 8.1 install is off the table (and the machine's a brick) until Microsoft makes the "skip this step" link actually skip the give-up-your-privacy step.

EDIT: Video Proof of Microsoft's Privacy Fail for Windows 8.1 ...

EDIT2: Microsoft claimed that the ability to log in via a local account would be available for the final (non-preview) version of Windows 8.1 but that appears not to be the case. In fact, we find that they've made it even harder to opt out of using a Microsoft account (not just for those of us who choose not to provide additional NSA bait in the form of an alternative email or phone number).

The phrase quoted earlier this year ("In order to use Windows 8.1 Preview  you must sign in to your PC with a Microsoft account. The option to create a local account  will be made available at the final release of  Windows 8.1.") has now been stricken from Microsoft's site...

And you thought Paypal was bad...Amazon Payments reaches new low

This is one of those blog posts I've thought long and hard about; on one hand, I want to give Amazon the benefit of the doubt, since their customer service has always been top notch. On the other hand, I wish someone at Amazon would get a clue.

So one of the companies I'm involved with, Braintrust Digital, recently signed up for Amazon Payments using a business account. The system asked for a number of verifications, completely fine, including bank account information. A days after all these verifications were completed, the trouble started.

After receiving a large payment, the company sent one last verification, asking for the last four digits of the SSN (social security number)—an odd request for a business account, since corporations, while recently ruled to be people, still have FEIN (Federal Employee Identification Number). I enter the last four of the EIN, get an automated response thanking me for my entry, and then...Nothing.

A day later, I get an email saying I'd entered it wrong, and that I need to re-enter the information. Ok, fine, so I re-enter the last four digits, again get the automated response thanking me for successfully entering the information, and...

The account is now locked.  No worries, as the small warning at the top of the page tells me there are things that can be done with the account and things that can't be done with the account. Here's the warning:

Click on the "here" link (isn't that sort of 1990s linking, to use "here" for the link—but I digress) and here's what we see we're allowed to do:

So the corporation can't send money or receive money, but it can withdraw it, right? Yes, according to the list, the only thing we CAN do is withdraw the money. So we go through the process of performing a sweep into the corporate bank account, and...

No, it's not telling the truth. At all. The transfer fails, and fails fast.

So we try to launch an inquiry into the failure, using these two links ("Problem with this transaction?" and "click here to inquire about an error" to, well, inquire about the error.

We enter the transaction ID and asking, simply, why it failed. Very simply, as in: "It failed. Why?"

Apparently these are fighting words, because we're told that we're disputing the transaction. Really? Yep, says so here...

Ok, so now what? Can we find a live person to check in with to find out why it failed? Well, only between 7am - 4pm PST (did we mention this was Amazon, based in Seattle, WA, USA?) Says so right here, in a rather snarky way:

No number to call, just a call-back request, either now or five minutes from now, meaning we have to be online to make the call (a call back service, yes, but not so convenient for real business folks, but that's another story all together...)

Tomorrow's blog entry? The incessant requests by Amazon to send Social Security information, date of birth and full legal name by (drumroll, please) EMAIL.