Why does the new version of edge want to turn my web camera "ON"

Hi Alex,

You ask me to contact you in case Edge was still attempting to enable my webcams. Long story short, I uninstall Edge. BUT the issue continued when using Google Chrome. So I uninstalled it too. Since then I AM NOT GETTING THE NOTIFICATIONS ANYMORE.  There is a group labeled "Trusted Installers" that is NOT on the local machine with windows 10 that enable apps to pull stuff we the consumer have no control over. Since the uninstall of Edge and Chrome, I am getting notifications from my antivirus that a invalid certificate from

staging.to-do.officeppe.com is trying to install. It has "remote computer" capabilities, so I DO NOT allow the installation of the cert. Oddly, the install always attempt when my computer is idle (on but not being used by me for 2 or more hours). Looking at my registry, there are 2 path for the cert but one is off with a ^34 ending.  apphostregistrationverifier.exe is not doing it's job and I have NO CONTROL on it as a consumer.  Microsoft is wrong for pushing such a group on computers without local control. "Trusted Group" should be in the hands of the consumer and whatever antivirus protection the consumer choose. The Barzey guy is right about API's being controlled/affected. Clearly in the EULA, Microsoft takes no responsibility, but it still doesn't mean that they have no responsibility, especially when they take away our ability to completely control our computer. I don't trust "Trusted Installer" group and no one should. We get that Apple and Google pulls this but Apple monitors Apps a lot better than Microsoft or Google. C'mon, step it up or get out the field Apple and Google are playing. Man the ports !

If you check the setting, it prompts whether to allow the app or the website to use your camera. You still have control over which information and devices Edge will use.

I recommend providing feedback to Edge's dev team by pressing Alt + Shift + I. Any new updates and implementations will be available in the next update. I'm pretty sure would love to hear about your privacy concerns.

Wrong.  the pop-up specifically says:  " allowed webcam access"  which specifically means allow in the past tense, re it has already been allowed.  It is unreasonable to expect the customer to have to correct this.  It is also unreasonable for you to allow it in the first place.  It needs to be corrected at the source.  This sort of business practice is covered by the "negative billing" practices laws and is illegal in Canada.  No one has the right to foist a service on customers and just expect them to cancel it if they don't want it.  Primarily designed to stop companies from billing for unwanted services but this practice by Microsoft edge is within the same parameters.

What I found extremely distrusting, unethical, and quite frankly A MAJOR violation of my right to privacy is that even though I have the most strict privacy setting activated for MS Edge, which means I have blocked all tracking cookies and third party cookies, I've blocked the mic, basically anything with an "off" option is off including camera for all sites even for MS Edge itself. So the other day I'm going through my WIndows 10 privacy settings and randomly came across this tiny little fine print that said " Microsoft last accessed webcam at blah blah blah"...... Which came as a complete shock because I have it set so that it doesn't do that. Plus, you mean to tell me Microsoft knows my preferences and decided it will access my webcam to look at me... THAT TOO WITHOUT MY CONSENT or acknowledgement of any kid...? That is usually called a criminal act in the normal world... So I reset settings to default and reselect every strict setting all-over again, except now I had downloaded Kaspersky Total Security and literally the second it finished the download/install/setup I clicked MS Edge to do some work..... WIthin seconds I get a Kaspersky notification stating "Microsoft Edge is Accessing Your Webcam" " Did you give this permission" and that is what completely had me lost for words because THREE TIMES NOW I HAVE TOLD MICROSOFT IN PLAIN ENGLISH STOP F**KING ACCESSING MY WEBCAM LIKE IM NOT ASKING FOR MUCH HERE JESUS CHRIST AND GUESS WHAT THREE TIMES MICROSOFT BASICALLY SAID "WE HEAR WHAT YOURE SAYING WE RESPECT YOUR PRIVACY BUT GO F YOURSELF WE WILL WATCH YOUR WEBCAM WHEN WE WANT DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT"...... I've been very very loyal to microsoft I don't even use chrome anymore but after this incident and blatant breach of my privacy I'm slowly going to transition away from all microsoft products as it clearly doesn't care for mine or your privacy I promise you.. In fact anyone reading this go buy Kaspersky Total Security setup safe internet and on on microsoft edge and see if you get the same notification I promise you will

What I found extremely distrusting, unethical, and quite frankly A MAJOR violation of my right to privacy is that even though I have the most strict privacy setting activated for MS Edge, which means I have blocked all tracking cookies and third party cookies, I've blocked the mic, basically anything with an "off" option is off including camera for all sites even for MS Edge itself. So the other day I'm going through my WIndows 10 privacy settings and randomly came across this tiny little fine print that said " Microsoft last accessed webcam at blah blah blah"...... Which came as a complete shock because I have it set so that it doesn't do that. Plus, you mean to tell me Microsoft knows my preferences and decided it will access my webcam to look at me... THAT TOO WITHOUT MY CONSENT or acknowledgement of any kid...? That is usually called a criminal act in the normal world... So I reset settings to default and reselect every strict setting all-over again, except now I had downloaded Kaspersky Total Security and literally the second it finished the download/install/setup I clicked MS Edge to do some work..... WIthin seconds I get a Kaspersky notification stating "Microsoft Edge is Accessing Your Webcam" " Did you give this permission" and that is what completely had me lost for words because THREE TIMES NOW I HAVE TOLD MICROSOFT IN PLAIN ENGLISH STOP F**KING ACCESSING MY WEBCAM LIKE IM NOT ASKING FOR MUCH HERE JESUS CHRIST AND GUESS WHAT THREE TIMES MICROSOFT BASICALLY SAID "WE HEAR WHAT YOURE SAYING WE RESPECT YOUR PRIVACY BUT GO F YOURSELF WE WILL WATCH YOUR WEBCAM WHEN WE WANT DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT"...... I've been very very loyal to microsoft I don't even use chrome anymore but after this incident and blatant breach of my privacy I'm slowly going to transition away from all microsoft products as it clearly doesn't care for mine or your privacy I promise you.. In fact anyone reading this go buy Kaspersky Total Security setup safe internet and on on microsoft edge and see if you get the same notification I promise you will

Completely agree it is so very suspicious, unauthorised and deceitful . As previously stated  I have found that Norton 360 deals with it very nicely too. ALSO We even have the Webcams covered to make sure. Another little tip to consider as they are obviously so devious is:-  NEVER read out ANY of your Passwords while typing them as they WILL be listening via your microphone set up.

I totally agree with the Kaspersky solution as Norton 360 was very "iffy" while sometimes working, sometimes don't. It happens a lot with Google Chrome and less with Firefox even with the privacy settings set to full AND even with the so-called "incognito" settings. I'm being told by some developers that the request is coming from the websites themselves (not that it matters because it is like a cop allowing speeders and drunk drivers to pass on through). MOST OF THE REQUEST WAS COMING FROM THE DEFAULT MSN STARTUP/landing PAGE. what concerning is like you pretty much said, it is happening to kids. Our little daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmas! Time to bring this out of the techie closet to Mainstreet.

Kaspersky Total Security has a privacy browser that is totally secure that is automatically enabled with banking, eBay, Amazon, and others. However, You can't set it to open automatically with everything. Additionally, cell phones are being targeted more. They collect your geo when they take the picture WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION.