Microsoft Should Be Sued For Bitlocking People's Data Without Their Approval

[DanieRains]

I am sure their lawyers feel they can defend themselves when millions of people can't access their data when their laptops die, but it is still evil.

Pure evil.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. I'll Admit To Being Lost

What is it that Microsoft actually did?

[woodsprite]

2. I had that issue. Equipment got zapped

By lightning that came in the the hardwired Ethernet. They said there was nothing they could do. Dell said the same thing. Had to send the laptop back/forth to Dell and do five whole reinstalls before I was satisfied that it would work ok for work apps. Audio is still an issue, but I found a workaround.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. bitlocking? I've never heard of this, and as a long term IT guy, this is interesting...

what are they doing, running an algorithm to translate one's data that's stored on their sites (not yours) so you can't access it? I.e., change a string of binary characters from, lets say 0011 1000 to something else? How can they prevent you from getting to your data if you use another device/cpu/laptop?

Thanks...

[ThirdEye]

7. Bitlocking is apparently the term for using Bitlocker

Bitlocker being Windows's consumer and professional disk encryption feature. The change to encrypt by default in Windows 11 is at its core a security feature for the consumer.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Thanks! NT

[ItsjustMe]

4. How is it Microsoft's fault

When your laptop dies.

[HipChick]

5. they get their approval

somewhere buried in the T&C's...

that said, none of my HD's are BL'd, but also do frequent backups..just in case

[Voltaire2]

6. Encrypting your disk is an install option.

It is required now for windows 11, optional otherwise.

It is also a good idea. You do have to save your recovery key someplace other than on your disk. Recovery is only needed for hardware failures. If the system boots, your data is available.

You also should backup your user profile data - basically your documents folder, but also other stuff too. OneDrive, GoogleDrive etc are all good and very affordable.

[ThirdEye]

8. It's a feature, not a bug or evil (really)

Maybe they're not making it clear that you need to keep recovery keys stored safely in case you need to decrypt the drives due to a broken computer. That would be really bad, but seems very unlikely.

In this information age we live in, if you are not keeping 3 copies of data, you have in fact decided that data is not worth protecting. Your hard drive could have corrupted as easily as some other part of your computer.

A good write-up: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/the-computer-backup-rule-of-three

Hard lesson to learn the hard way. I have multiple friends who have, despite me attempting to educate them ahead of time.

[nuxvomica]

9. I had one fry on me and I had to use the recovery code

It's called a recovery PIN and it's 48 digits.

[Silent3]

10. Will your computer reboot without babysitting it to type in your Bitlocker key?

I only have Bitlocker on my company laptop. I find it a real pain in the ass that, if my computer needs to reboot for a software update or the like, I can't just walk away and hope to come back and find the update finished.

Nope, I've got to wait until any pre-reboot part of an update has finished installing so that I can type in my Bitlocker password after the reboot, and only then can the computer complete the update on its own.

Occasionally an update requires more than one reboot, and that's an even big annoyance.

[48656c6c6f20]

12. Yeah that's not normal

You got something else happening there.

[48656c6c6f20]

11. Ok.

We always need trivial outrage I suppose.