Examining Microsoft Update

Posted by michael on Wednesday February 26, 2003 @03:00AM from the policy-of-no-privacy dept.

eggsovereasy writes "The Inquirer is reporting that a group in Germany has deciphered the information sent to Microsoft during an update using Windows Update and says that information on all software installed on your computer is sent, even that which is not Microsoft's own software." The original article is, unfortunately, pay-per-view. Update: 02/26 18:19 GMT by T : ionyka points to this "related article from ITWorld that deals with Microsoft's transferring of information through Windows Media Player. When you open up Media Player it sends information back to Microsoft like what movies you play, what songs you listen to and where they come from."

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Re:Surprise, surprise... by wilstephens · 2003-02-26 03:16 · Score: 1, Troll

Microsoft needs to collect this information for driver updates and other *useful* updates.

Only last night I tried to install a wirless USB interface onto a laptop and didn't have the drivers so I headed onto windowsupdate.microsoft.com with the USB adapter dangling out the back and bam! there was a driver there ready for me to download. Excellent.

Fast. Easy computing. That's why I pay for my software...