Encryption of stored data hasn’t been discussed recently, but presently it seems to be a fairly big topic concerning Windows.
My nearly-new Win 11 machine just launched bitlocker without warning and without first providing the recovery key. I got out of that in the end at the expense of a lot of wear on the disks. It seems clear from looking around the web that a lot of people are in difficulty; you can imagine someone not seriously computer-savvy losing their medical or financial records.*
None of the websites I looked at proposed a sure-fire way of permanently preventing bitlocker (or the “family” version) being activated by an update, or simply by adding some hardware.
It’s difficult to attribute this situation to a simple and inadvertent lack of common sense or consideration for users, but I’d better not try to comment further - except to say that there would be a huge row if ever Ubuntu were to do something like that.
*We’re all aware in the local free repair shop that not everyone knows about doing a backup each evening; anyway, that isn’t obvious if all you’ve got in the house is the laptop on your lap.
This is a mechanism of Microsoft to lock people into Windows 11. When they told the world about this, they told encryption would be good to protect your data, just in case your device were stolen or got hacked.
The reality is that they want to make it as difficult as possible to migrate to other OS’.
Perhaps some lawyers need to get on this?
A while ago they also started exporting all documents on a device to onedrive “for safe keeping” and your drive would just have a link to the onedrive version. Another mechanism of vendor lock-in.
There are so many instances where Microsoft could be reasonably taken to antitrust court for anticompetitive behavior. I’m not sure if Bitlocker will work in court since full-disk encryption is an industry standard at this point (save for the horrid manner that MS implements it). To me, the greatest argument for remanding Microsoft to an antitrust court in 2026 would be its constant forcing of Edge as your default browser, which has changed and alternated after updates so many times, you have to fight your computer on occasion to use your preferred browser. Ironically, Microsoft has been taken to court in the late 90s over this issue, back it was Internet Explorer locking out Netscape. Interestingly, the EU passed the Digital Markets Act to ban Microsoft from hardening of Edge as a default browser and/or search (compelling MS to allow European consumers to easily pick their default browser without the onerous frictions it has introduced to American users of W11 trying to opt-out of Edge).
I would love to see something similar happen to Microsoft in the U.S. I am not holding my breath it will happen, though.
I don’t use bitlocker or encryption on my Windows or Linux boxes. At least not on purpose.
Microsoft antitrust? Apple even more so. Google too.
I’d like to see more up with Linux and less down with Microsoft. I’m not pointing at anyone in particular. It’s just super common to rip into Microsoft. If you don’t like them, don’t use them. I’ve chosen to do that with Apple. Everyone has their brand bias.
I’m thinking of users (the majority I’m sure) who don’t know much about the technology but who, nevertheless have the right to use their computers without hindrance or hidden traps.
We are relatively more interested here in PC operating systems but, particularly in present circumstances, Android (though it’s attractive and useful for many of us) worries me most regarding monopolies that depend on the lack of data protection worldwide.
I did too, but the procedure was very much a mess, with the fear of losing my disks because of a misplaced click. But I’m thinking of the majority who will find their computer dead and at best will be advised to pay for a new disk and installation. All this fits with the present World order, where one slogan could be: “If you’re not a geek you’re a nobody”.