Recall Recalled

A key component of the Windows Copilot Runtime announcement was a Windows desktop application named Recall. Recall’s goal stated by Microsoft is to provide a timeline of what data the user interacted with as they worked on their device. It accomplishes this by taking snapshots of the device’s desktop every five seconds. A Screenray process then analyzes the screenshots to allow users to interact with individual elements within the snapshots.

Almost immediately, industry security experts thought the application posed both privacy and security concerns, and many appeared unsure if it was a desirable feature. Security and privacy experts tested the feature once it was publicly available (it had been a tightly guarded secret during development). This testing showed that Recall had significant problems in terms of security, privacy, and responsible AI safety.

Despite Microsoft’s recent Secure Future Initiative, it appears that Recall was developed without following any security by design, operation, or deployment review, and never included a public preview.