content: Cortana is a service, Outlook.com is a service, OneDrive or Skydrive is a service, they all run on and upload data to Microsoft servers.  The big problem is by signing up to those services, you sell your soul to the devil. The big problem is that Microsoft tricks you in this contract. It is the tech unsavy that gets tricked in to this. Cortana is a huge security and privacy risk, and all you get in return is a lousy talking computer. Cortana is of no use on typical laptops, desktop and tablets. Cortana is only useful on smartphones. The good news is that the tech unsavy people are education themselves and now know how to remove these settings that are threats to privacy. So these default settings have now even become useless and bad PR.