(TJV NEWS) Microsoft is once again drawing fire from digital rights advocates over its AI-powered “Recall” feature in Windows 11, which quietly resurfaced in a recent system update. As Reclaim The Net has reported, the tool — which logs screen activity at regular intervals — is raising alarm bells among privacy experts who argue it’s less a productivity enhancer and more a surveillance threat.

Originally shelved after intense backlash in 2023, Recall has returned in preview form with Windows 11 Build 26100.3902. The feature works by taking continuous screenshots of the user’s desktop, creating a searchable timeline of activity that includes apps used, websites visited, messages viewed, and documents opened. Microsoft frames the tool as a way to “recall” what you were doing — a kind of memory assistant powered by artificial intelligence.

According to Microsoft, Recall is an opt-in feature that requires users to activate Windows Hello in order to access saved snapshots. Users can also pause the feature or filter out content from being saved. But as Reclaim The Net points out, critics say these guardrails do little to prevent potential misuse — especially for people whose data might be captured without their consent.

One major concern is that Recall doesn’t distinguish between public and private content. Even if the recipient of a sensitive document or personal photo has opted into Recall, the person who sent it may not have — yet their content could still be silently captured and indexed.

The potential implications are far-reaching. Legal professionals, journalists, and government employees — or anyone handling confidential data — could see their work exposed, not through hacking, but through a built-in operating system feature. As Reclaim The Net notes, spyware developers or malicious actors wouldn’t need to break in — they’d just need to access Recall’s time-stamped snapshots.

Privacy advocates see Recall as a worrying example of how AI is being integrated into operating systems in ways that prioritize data retention over user control. The feature is being criticized not just for its security risks, but for what it represents: a shift toward embedding AI into everyday tools in a way that normalizes invasive tracking.

Despite Microsoft’s assurances, the debate over Recall underscores a broader unease with the direction big tech is heading — where convenience and automation often come at the expense of autonomy and privacy.