Microsoft's 'Recall' Feature Screenshotted Everything on Your PC Every Few Seconds — Including Banking Passwords

Microsoft announced Windows Recall in May 2024: an AI feature that takes a screenshot every few seconds and builds a searchable visual timeline of everything you've ever done on your PC. Security researchers immediately discovered it stored everything — including banking passwords, private messages, and medical records — in a plaintext, unencrypted local database. One researcher wrote a tool that could exfiltrate a user's entire Recall history in seconds. Microsoft delayed and then heavily revised the feature, but the backlash exposed how little thought had been given to the privacy implications of recording everything.