Look, we all knew it was coming, but now it’s official. Microsoft just handed middle managers the ultimate weapon. Their new update for Microsoft 365 allows companies to track exactly where you are, and the days of pretending to be at your desk are over.
This is what many of us warned against already 20 years ago. It’s one of the inherent dangers of ALL proprietary software.
Back then most people didn’t believe or understand it, now that such dangers are out in the open, nothing continues to happen about it.
Everybody knows today, but (almost) nobody gives a shit.Member when “the government is listening!” Was ‘just crazy paranoids’?
Yeah.
People in the 90s and early 2000s were the ones most paranoid about that. I don’t think people in the 60s were anywhere near as worried or aware of wiretaps.
Back then the reality was more “the government wish they had the power to listen to everything” and now that they have the power, no one believes it because it was previously ridiculous to think they were already doing it.
The conspiracy was just ahead of its time.
I mean ECHELON was reading satellite traffic in the 70s. Although now we call it Five Eyes. Encryption for regular people just wasn’t a thing until the 90s. Still isn’t for 90% of everyone on most platforms.
Microsnitch
Narkoslop
This shit makes my job harder. I am required by law to provide a PSAP with the location data of any 911 caller (within a pretty tight radius). I have to use software in concert with softphones which requires the user enter their location when logging in the phone on their computer, just in case it is used to dial 911. This isn’t optional, we could face serious legal penalties if a user dials 911 and the response is delayed because the responders go to the wrong place.
My stuff is only used for 911. We don’t keep track. Really. There’s not even a mechanism to do that.
But when MS pulls this invasive bullshit it makes people afraid that my 911 software is doing the same thing. It makes them lie on the form or refuse to put anything in it. It makes them less safe and it makes my life difficult trying to convince them that the software we are using really is just for safety and that nobody, not even me, has access to it.
It doesn’t help that pretty much every single thing that has ever been done in the name of “safety” in America has eventually been used to rip us off or harm us in some way, and that isn’t even counting the fake shit that was a fraud from the get-go (like the patriot act and the like).
But when MS pulls this invasive bullshit it makes people afraid that my 911 software is doing the same thing.
How’s that?
Because if middle managers even in other companies are tracking people’s locations then people are more likely to think that my software that asks for their location will be used to track them even though it doesn’t.
Not yet. Private equity is probably eyeing new data sources to snap up all the time
That sounds like such a drain.
The lack of a source in that article led me to go looking for something official. Here’s the MS article on the feature: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/places/configure-auto-detect-work-location
What jumped out at me (called out twice in dedicated boxes):
By default, users are opted out of work location detection. Users are prompted to provide consent for automatic location detection in the Teams desktop client on Windows or macOS. It is not possible for admins to consent on users’ behalf.
This just doesn’t seem like as big of a deal as some are making it sound.
I don’t think it’s wise to believe tech oligarchs saying that orwellian surveillance tech cannot be exploited for orwellian surveillance.
Besides companies can just require employees to opt in - “we just built this fresh horror, how companies use it is up to them” doesn’t really fly.
By default users are opted out…
… unless your company admin overrides that choice with a policy and force enables it.
Why is it a bad thing that employees can’t pretend to do something they’re not?
If you’re doing a good job, managers don’t care if you spend the afternoon at a café.
/ex manager
good managers don’t care.
I’ve been in software development for 15 years and never had a manager that wasn’t at least a little bit of a micromanager. The reality is that it rarely takes 8 hours or more to do the things that need to be done in a day but the expectation most often is still that if my AuDHD ass isn’t in my often windowless office for 9 hours a day then I must not be working.
Except your managers might think it’s important, or you’re a shitty manager trying to fill their time and look important by micromanaging your employees.
Your IP address can be correlated with your location without needing this Microsoft cruft. Combine this with MDM and badge reader logs and your employer already has all the information they need to track you.
This has been in Teams for years. Let’s be serious if your boss actually cares then get a different job or a different fucking boss.
My work/manager has the best possible way of managing: get your work done, dont make drama, work as little or much as you need. We have to try to get 45 hours but almost no one does or they pad their timesheet. But then there’s weeks you travel and work 60 hours (but its actually work not wasting time)
Works great for people like me who are useless from 1 pm to about 3 pm, but really able to get a lot of work done from 5 to 7 ish. Unless youre missing meetings, no one cares where you are. I could go to Hawaii tomorrow with my laptop and do the exact same work I do now.
Uninstalled. You can use these apps in a chromium browser, where you control what it can use.
Exactly. When I have to interact with Microsoft, I feel best keeping it in a browser.
For work/school I keep it all in Edge. So I keep all the garbage in the same bin 🤣
Use Teams in the web browser instead of the Edge Webview wrapper client?
It’s trivial to set your SSID and AP’s MAC address to match whatever they’re looking for.
So is it just teams? I’m confused
Looks like a broken link.
I edited it, thank you for alerting me.
Good thing my manager isn’t a piece of shit.
Also, I have it blocked on all my stuff because fuck off with your tracking.
how block? Firewall rules?
You just turn it off in settings, but I also run a VPN and have the permissions denied at the OS level on my phone (Android 16). On my personal computer, I only use web apps when it comes to work stuff, and on my work computer, I have all location settings turned off for OS and apps (but I am an admin and work in IT).
Great job MS. This is illegal here.
It’s only illegal if “here” files a lawsuit against Microsoft.
Will it?
I’ll either deny permission or straight up fucking uninstall it.
Edit: lol at the downvotes, looks like a couple people out there are pretty clueless
