Pressure grows on Microsoft over alleged 'spying' by Windows 10

Russian lawyers call for ban, while torrent trackers shut-out Windows 10 following changes to the Microsoft Services Agreement

A Russian law firm has called on the country's Prosecutor General to "review" the legal status of Windows 10 in Russia over claims that Microsoft's new operating system, which it offered free to existing users of Windows 7 and 8, "illicitly" collects information about users and transmit the details to Microsoft's head office in Seattle, Washington.

According to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, lawyers for Moscow-based Bubnov & Partners, have called for the operating system to be banned over claims that it "collects users' browser history, passwords, location, elements of electronic messages, calendar records and even voice recordings", according to The Moscow Times.

"The complaint filed by the law firm was escalated when State Duma Deputy Vadim Solovyov officially petitioned the Prosecutor General's Office to ‘review' Microsoft, to ensure that its OS is compliant with Russian law. Citing the Izvestia newspaper, The Moscow Times reports that Solovyov has claimed that ‘Windows 10 is effectively spying on its users'," continued the newspaper.

However, the Russian Association for Electronic Electronic Communications rejected the lawyers' claims. In a statement on Friday, it suggested that Windows 10's setting were flexible enough to ensure that it doesn't breach Russian law. Microsoft, additionally, has argued that users can switch off most of the data-collection settings, which are active by default.

Meanwhile, a torrent tracking network is to ban users of Windows 10 from its system after Microsoft changed its terms and conditions to enable it to scan users' PCs for "counterfeit games", and to pass on the details of any finds to MarkMonitor, a brand-protection company based in San Francisco, California.

"Windows 10 sends the contents of your local disks directly to one of their servers. Obviously this goes way too far," according to iTS. "Unfortunately Microsoft decided to revoke any kind of data protection and submit whatever they can gather to not only themselves but also others. One of those is one of the largest anti-piracy company called MarkMonitor," wrote one iTS staffer on Reddit.

According to Microsoft's Services Agreement, it gives the software giant the right to "automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorised hardware peripheral devices".

Torrent groups BB and FSC are also considering the removal of the operating system from their trackers, according to Win Beta.