The company was also accused of GDPR violations by the Dutch Government in November, who criticized the inability to disable telemetry or know exactly what Microsoft is collecting. The new Office 365 ProPlus controls remedy this somewhat, introducing a required and optional setting. This solution already made its way to consumer versions of Office, though there’s no way to disable collection completely.
Office 365 ProPlus Feature Toggles
Alongside the controls, Microsoft is providing more information on the data it gathers. It’s also transitioning from the word ‘telemetry’ to ‘diagnostic data’ in an attempt to reassure users. It’s breaking down its controls and collection for features into the following categories:
“Experiences that analyze your content: Experiences that use your Office content to provide you with design recommendations, editing suggestions, data insights, and similar features. For example, PowerPoint Designer or Editor in Word. Experiences that download online content: Experiences that allow you to search and download online content, including templates, images, 3D models, videos, and reference materials to enhance your documents. For example, Office templates or PowerPoint QuickStarter. Other connected experiences: Experiences such as document collaboration can be also turned off by disconnecting the Office desktop apps from the Microsoft Cloud.”
The company says it’s committed to making more adjustment if users require them, and highlighted the changes it’s made in Windows 10 to meet legal standards.
