According to Microsoft's documentation, a user can only change the setting to enable or disable the new People section three times a year.
Microsoft's OneDrive spots your mates, remembers their faces, and won't forget easily
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/13/microsoft_face_grouping_ondrive/
73 Comments
GreenShimada@lemmy.world · 103 pts · 316d
WTF is up with MS doing this rate limiting? I just learned that Win11 will lock you out of your own machine for 2 hours if you restart too many times, like if you have a dualboot and are doing something that requires restarts to resolve.
P1nkman@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 316d
What the shit? Ooh, I need to test this on my work computer!
mybuttnolie@sopuli.xyz · 26 pts · 316d
it's a very good feature. if you have too much work and need a longer break, just restart a few times. i may need to change my work laptop from macbook to a windows
Prathas@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 315d
You have a work MacBook? Man, your company must be filthy stinkin' rich.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 315d
We all have MacBook Pros because we don't want to deal with IT. It's better than Windows, but I miss Linux.
mybuttnolie@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 315d
we have macbooks, windows laptops and even ubuntus. they give us any hardware we want, even 50" ultrawides đ
BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 316d
This is why I decided to dual-boot Ubuntu and Win10 until I'm fully comfortable on Linux. Every single thing about Win11 just makes my skin crawl.
Last week it was the news that they're eliminating methods to install the OS at all without being signed into a MS account. The degree of snooping had no plausible explanation other than for Microsoft to harvest and sell your data.
markko@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 315d
As someone who was in your exact position several years ago, nice!
I'd recommend Linux Mint to newcomers though. It's based on Ubuntu and is even easier to get comfortable with (much better GUI for updates and app "store"), but it strips out all the Microsoft-like stuff that Canonical have been doing in recent years.
Pop!_OS (also based on Ubuntu) and Bazzite are also meant to be beginner friendly, and are particularly geared towards gaming on Linux, especially the latter.
BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 312d
I actually went with Tuxedo OS, which is based on the Ubuntu kernel but has a very noob-friendly desktop environment.
My daily driver laptop is a 12-year-old Hackintosh MBP that I've been repairing for years, but I've priced out a Tuxedo laptop for when it finally kicks the bucket. So I started dual booting Tuxedo on that as well to get my bearings.
Once I'm a little more experienced, I'm definitely interested to check out other distros! Right now it's a lot of looking up terminal commands and learning the architecture. The firmware fan control in the MacBook is shot - fans blasting at full speed due to a failed GPU temp sensor that makes the computer assume it's overheating - so I've already learned how to write to /sys/ with a custom fan control based on the working sensor in the CPU die.
It's been really fun so far. You get the sense of just having vastly greater control over the hardware at a low level and the ability to control how it functions in a way that Windows and MacOS completely obfuscate. I still have very little idea what I'm doing in the terminal, but I'm starting to pick it up.
eronth@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 315d
I started with mint, but the more I see about Bazzite the more I wish I had started there. It just seems slightly more aligned to my needs.
markko@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 314d
Great thing about Linux is you can change your distro whenever you want.
If you're uncertain, or not ready to go through the process just yet, you can always just boot Bazzite off a USB drive and play around with it for now.
eronth@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 309d
Wouldn't that wipe my current data? Like, sure I can install Bazzite, but there's more setup to be done once again, and if I dislike it then I'm going through the setup once more. I understand it's not that hard all things considered, but it's not necessarily easy to just go mucking around with it with limited free time.
markko@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 308d
Oh yeah there's definitely a bit of effort involved, but most distros have very similar directory setups, so it's often just a matter of copying across the relevant folders, with the "home" folder being the one that typically contains most or all of your user data.
Being able to test run distros off a USB drive is a great (and easy) way to see if it might be for you without making any sort of commitment.
Another option is to install the distro to a second hard drive so you have a more permanent environment to test it. I've done this before, and when I was content that I wanted to switch to it I just copied all my stuff across.
Junkernaught@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 316d
You won't regret it! Ubuntu is a solid choice for your first foray into Linux.
Routhinator@startrek.website · 5 pts · 314d
Preventing their shitty brute force protection from allowing someone to get a users MS account password because they are FORCING users to use a non-local account?
The computer would have to store a hash locally to authenticate that account offline, so this is very likely why this is here. Because they've enabled a path to brute forcing their cloud accounts without their servers knowing.
The windows shithole is just layers of bad design all the way down.
GreenShimada@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 314d
SMH a workaround for a workaround to enable their shitty surveillance. Pure genius.
Australis13@fedia.io · 57 pts · 316d
If I hadn't abandoned OneDrive already, this would make me do so.
HK65@sopuli.xyz · 14 pts · 316d
Yeah but they are taking your data from the laptop your mum bought yesterday and put all the family vacation pictures on. Mum didn't know she had to kill off OneDrive or Microsoft will hoover up and monetise your memories.
Taleya@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 316d
Jokes on them, the friends and family that aren't techs are mac users. I'm the only w11 user and that's only for work. (And you bet your fat arse that's lobotomised)
Australis13@fedia.io · 3 pts · 316d
Fortunately not... I'm generally the one responsible for IT maintenance with my parents' as they get older. Disabled OneDrive long ago since they don't use it.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 316d
No, you really, truly canât ârugged individualismâ your way out of a societal problem. Remember that wedding you went to a few months ago? Someone uploaded this photos and now your social graph has been recorded. When your friendâs kid had a birthday party a few weeks ago? You were uploaded and graphed again. When you were out at that restaurant and you were in the background of someoneâs date selfie? Graphed again.
The only solution to this problem is real data protection law, like the GDPR in the EU.
Australis13@fedia.io · 1 pts · 315d
Oh, I definitely agree. We need better privacy and data protection laws here in Australia too. In the meantime, however, I do what I can to minimise my footprint. I'm well aware that other people are going to be the weak link!
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 23 pts · 316d
By mates, do they mean buddies or procreative partners?
markz@suppo.fi · 20 pts · 316d
Australians
GreenShimada@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 316d
Yes
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 316d
Both are good
Taleya@aussie.zone · 21 pts · 316d
The fuck is that goddamn thumbnail. You keep shalehket out of this shit.
Scrappy@feddit.nl · 13 pts · 316d
Yeah it's in awful taste; thanks for pointing it out. For those who are not familiar with the art installation: https://www.jmberlin.de/en/shalekhet-fallen-leaves
floofloof@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 316d
Ha, joke's on you Microsoft: I don't have any mates.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 316d
I think thatâs why itâs recommended to encrypt files containing personal information with a separate tool before uploading them to any cloud service. It prevents big data from automatically processing your Information and protects you from leaks.
dumbass@aussie.zone · 13 pts · 316d
Jokes on them, I don't have any mates!
lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com · 11 pts · 316d
Why are they using electricity for stuff no one asked for? It seems to be too cheap over there...
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 315d
But if we feed enough data to the AI slop machine, one day you can get your own Knight Rider car! /s
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 315d
I'm holding out for an Airwolf or Street Hawk.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 1 pts · 314d
Microsoft spend a fortune on funding ârenewableâ energy to power their data centres, and also have their own private on-site ârenewableâ power generation at many of their data centres.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -1 pts · 315d
Why do you think no one asks for stuff like this? Facial recognition is one of the best features of photo storage systems as it lets you easily find all of your photos that have certain people in them. Itâs fantastic for making shared albums with family members where any pics of certain people are automatically added once recognized.
Onedrive having it makes using Onedrive for photo storage and sharing a much better experience.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 315d
Only if it can be done locally. I don't want my fucking face going out to a bunch of asshole corporations databases any more than absolutely necessary. Shit like this is why I don't let people take my picture.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -1 pts · 315d
Itâs not?
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 0 pts · 315d
Do you not understand how cloud services work?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -1 pts · 314d
Do you?
What about this topic makes you think anything like this is happening?
lightnsfw@reddthat.com · 0 pts · 314d
When you put your photos (or anything else) on onedrive they go to Microsoft's servers. Microsoft now has your photos. That is how this works. They aren't pushing so hard to coerce Windows users into using it for benevolent reasons.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 314d
So you want it to be done locally against photos that are stored in the cloud?
This only happens for photos that you upload to onedrive. Why or how would it happen âlocallyâ?
You said âa bunch of asshole corporations databasesâ - who are the âbunch of corporationsâ? Microsoft is only 1 corporation.
lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 315d
If you really want it, you should be able to enable it. No reason to do that with the other 90% who don't need it.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 315d
So your argument now is just that it should be disabled by default?
lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 314d
Regarding electricity: yes
Regarding privacy: no, but my privacy views are based on what we have in Germany, where the feature might not be allowed at all.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · 0 pts · 314d
Does google photos have this feature in Germany like it does where I am?
I feel like people are misunderstanding what this actually is. When you upload photos, it detects faces and lets you tag those faces with a name, and then you can just click on that person and it will show you all the photos you have of that person. That's it. It's not sharing them with anyone. Why on earth would that be not allowed?
Melusine@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 11 pts · 316d
In Europe this probably goes against GDPR, right? If I don't agree, they should not collect my face
badbytes@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 314d
Give MS a bunch of fake mates. Fill their models with NOISE.
FenrirIII@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 316d
So, will this look through porn videos as well? Asking for a friend.
pirat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 314d
Now you can easily find all the porn videos you have collected of any of your friends!
DimberDamber@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 314d
Jokes on them, I have no friends.
needanke@feddit.org · 2 pts · 315d
If it works the same way Immich does, probably because they have to retrain the models every time you turn it back on and want to aboid poeple turning it on when they need it, then off again, then back on, ... Although a less shitty mehod would be to limit the amount of times you can turn it on but I guess that iterferes with their goal of harvesting your data.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 315d
IMO current best case scenario
Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 314d
If you're stuck with Windows 11, this removes OneDrive nicely.
GaryGhost@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 313d
Get a second drive, SD card, USB, ssd whatever and have it just for your back ups. If your back up drive fails, well, fuck
Reygle@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 316d
I'm done defending idiots. Use sh%t, get hit.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -4 pts · 315d
Not sure why people are talking about the âyou can only enable or disable it 3 times a yearâ as if itâs an issue? This is generally a thing youâd either turn off or on once, depending on what it defaults to. Why would anyone need to turn it on or off 3 times in a year?
nulluser@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 315d
Why would they need to limit you?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -4 pts · 315d
Irrelevant. Why would anyone need to turn it on or off 3 times in a year?
nulluser@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 315d
Why do you need to know how other people use software to understand why arbitrary limits are arbitrary?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -2 pts · 314d
I would assume that the "arbitrary limit" is actually based on something like the amount of processing power that it could take to go through every single photo/file that is uploaded.
Anyway, even if it is arbitrary - what reason would anyone have to turn it on and off more than 3x a year? It's something you'd decide you either want or you don't.
nulluser@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 314d
That's none of your business. You don't need to know why anyone wants to do a thing to advocate for their freedom to do it.
Just because you lack the imagination to think of reasons someone might have, doesn't mean that they don't have a perfectly good reason. But, they shouldn't need to justify themselves to you.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -1 pts · 314d
The donât have to justify themselves to me, they have to figure out how to handle only changing it 3 times a year.
Iâm trying to understand any reasons why someone would turn it on/off more than once. Not asking people to âjustifyâ, just curious because itâs not something that makes sense to turn on and off multiple times.
nulluser@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 314d
You don't know why they might want to do this thing. I also don't know why they would want to do this thing. The difference is, I đ Don't đ Care đ. My opinion of their reason to want to do it is irrelevant to my advocating their freedom to do it.
And that's all I'm going to say on the subject. If you can't understand that basic fact, then I don't know what else I can say.
xep@discuss.online · 1 pts · 314d
For someone called freedom advocate you sure don't sound like one.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au · -2 pts · 314d
What part of letting me name people in my uploaded photos so I can easily find all of the photos of them is somehow anti-freedom?