Brave declared war on a controversial Windows feature! It will block it by default

The controversial Microsoft Recall feature, which automatically takes screenshots of almost everything you do on a Windows 11 computer, is facing growing resistance from application developers. Following Signal, which began blocking this feature in May, other significant players are now joining in – the Brave browser and the security application AdGuard have announced that they will also block this controversial feature.

Why are developers blocking Microsoft Recall?

In its blog post, AdGuard labels Recall as a “security risk” and clearly explains its concerns: “The very idea of taking screenshots in the background is unsettling,” states AdGuard. “The system can at any moment take a screenshot of a private chat window, an online form where you enter your credit card number, or simply something personal that you didn’t want to save.”

Brave admits that its decision was “partially inspired by Signal’s blocking of Recall.” “By default, we will disable this feature for Windows 11 users, with the option to re-enable it for users who truly want to use Recall,” states Brave.

Different approaches to blocking

In May, Signal began blocking screenshots from Windows 11 using a special DRM flag, which prevents any screen capture tools or accessibility tools from being used with the application. At the same time, it criticized Microsoft for launching Recall without detailed settings for application developers that would allow Signal to easily protect privacy, which the company considers a glaring omission that limits their options.

Brave, however, chose a more nuanced approach – it can offer access to screen capture tools and accessibility tools, yet still disable Recall, because Microsoft allows web browsers to selectively disable this feature. “It’s encouraging that Microsoft recognizes web browsers are exceptionally privacy-sensitive, but we hope they will offer the same Recall opt-out option to all privacy-focused application developers,” Brave adds.

Blocking by default with opt-in option

Brave stated in its announcement that the Microsoft Recall blocking feature is already deployed in Brave Nightly (beta) and will reach the stable version within a few weeks. Users who wish to continue using Recall in the Brave browser will have the option to re-enable this feature with a simple toggle in the browser settings.

Microsoft Recall – what is it exactly?

Recall is an AI feature introduced by Microsoft, part of Copilot+ PCs with Windows 11. It works by automatically taking screenshots every few seconds and storing them in a local database. These screenshots are then analyzed by artificial intelligence, allowing users to easily search and browse their computer activity history.

Brave declared war on a controversial Windows feature! It will block it by default Jakub Kárník News Jakub Kárník News

Will other applications follow?

The decision by Brave and AdGuard to block the Microsoft Recall feature could inspire other application developers to take similar steps. Especially privacy and security-focused applications will likely consider whether to adopt similar measures to protect their users’ privacy.

For regular users, it’s important to know that Microsoft Recall is not active by default and requires explicit consent to be enabled. If you have concerns about your privacy, you can either not activate this feature or use applications that actively block it, such as Signal, Brave, or AdGuard.

What do you think about the Microsoft Recall feature?

Source: Brave