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Microsoft Talks Daily With Your Computer
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that it needs to better inform users that its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker.
The company said the undisclosed daily check is a safety measure designed to allow the tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to quickly shut down in case of a malfunction."
The EULA is suppose to disclose this daily call-in feature. Lauren Weinstein, who is co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, was one of the first people to notice the daily communications to Microsoft. Report from Yahoo.com"
The EULA is suppose to
That should be 'supposed'. What happened to the 'd'?
disclosed this
Oh, there it is.
*wraps computer in tin foil and duct tape*
BRING IT ON!!!
XP Phone Home!
I guess they forgot to disclose that in the EULA. Honest mistake, stuff happens. Now let's go back to not worrying about DRM or Net Neutrality because Big Bussiness is looking out for our best interests.
My moms computer which was bought from Best Buy and NEVER had windows re-installed on it was determined by Microsoft to be "not genuine". What fucking bullshit, I never was a Microsoft hater before that even though I used OS X, but calling my mom a criminal even though she isnt is just plain fucking bullshit. Microsoft, you made me a hater, though out of principle I refuse to use "M$"
Monstar L
TFA says "your computer", but aren't all Windows installs "my computer" on the desktop? Shouldn't it say "your my computer"? Or is it "my your computer"?
Ah screw it! And screw Microsoft, too.
The sea changes color, but the sea does not change.
I knew my PC was cheating on me after I got a Mac. But Microsoft...
Being Slashdot, you have to praise the editors for what they didn't do. In this case they didn't write it as Micro$oft, MicroShaft or MicroShit.
Good job, boys! Have a cookie!
Trolling is a art,
MicroSoft
So why are we talking about their 'tools?'
Honesty may be the best policy, but by process of elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy.
Here at Microsoft, we care about the Customer Experience. As a result, we've taken the following measures to make sure your experience is as pleasant and beneficial to you as possible.
- Our new operating system, Windows Vista, requires only the best high-end hardware so that, even on a system well beyond the power you should ever need, you'll still get the true Windows Experience(TM)
- The new Windows Media Player 11 features all-new and exclusive DRM, or Degradation Resistment Technology by Microsoft, which not only provides wonderful sound in the new and improved WMA format, but protects your rights as well.
- Our operating systems now report back with system information and other information which we feel should be collected from your system at any given time to improve your computing experience.
Microsoft: Where do we want to take you today?
"Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
What the??? You are upset because some corporations name was intercapped? Are you going to go into apoplexy every time somebody intercaps some corporations name?
What kind of an insane person cares about that?
evil is as evil does
Your Computer: Hey Sweetie!
M$: Hi Schnookums!
Your Computer: Just checking in
M$: I love you honey
Your Computer: Bye Bye Baby
M$: Sweet Dreams
Your Computer: No you hangup
M$: No no you hangup
One time a day check. This is why I blocked this update.
- grafitti in New York toilet cubicle
I haven't had it happen, but maybe this is what you're looking for?
Are you certain you're not looking for this? Oh, wait, that's not what you're looking for. That's NOT what you're looking for!
Oh, not again... Obi-wan's gonna kill me!
90 days for hackers to find an exploit in Wga to subvert microsoft's own servers into spambots.
Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
TFA says "your computer", but aren't all Windows installs "my computer" on the desktop? Shouldn't it say "your my computer"? Or is it "my your computer"?
I got a totally different result myself. When I ran Windows Update on my parents laptop about an hour ago Windows Update renamed 'My Computer' to 'All your computer are belong to Microsoft' and changed the system name to 'Skynet subnode 3964270017356334576934-X371N02'. Has anybody else experienced this?
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
And since I run a legit corporate copy, it's staying blocked.
... but if you ran a stolen corporate copy, you'd unblock it? ;-)
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Long ago I renamed mine to "Bill's Computer." I just didn't feel like it was mine anymore. ='(
This sig rocks the casbah.
Oh, yeah that is a good way to disclose something to the public. You can write in under your plan to assassinate the president and take over the world.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
I mean, c'mon. Anything? Maybe you've heard that this is all just an urban legend, started by hippies? Please, guys? All I hear coming from the Northwest is crickets chirping!
What's with that wheel?
it's been driving me nuts.
Yarr!
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
I knew it! I knew that there was something going on!
I always thought it was too co-incidental when things crashed.
Now we know - Windows and MS's servers are whispering quietly to each other:
MS: "Psst... Is it inconvenient yet?"
Win: "Nah, not yet."
MS: "What about now?"
Win: "Just hang on a minute... Pardon the pun."
MS: "What's happening now?"
Win: "Well, he's up to 20 pages now and he hasn't hit Ctrl+S to save..."
MS: "And Autosave?"
Win: "Who do you think I am? I made sure that was disabled ages ago! When should I go?"
MS: "...Wait for it.... Wait..... NOW!"
STOP 0x0000001E (4a4a4a4a4a, 4a4a4a4a4a, 4a4a4a4a4a, 4a4a4a4a4a) KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Win: "ROFL! He's screaming and kicking the desk! Aw man, you should have seen him hit the monitor! What a wanker!"
Now we know...
The answer is: There is a difference between being antisocial and being downright sociopathic.
Also I can't think of anything worse than having to understand Windows sufficiently to write such a worm. Urrgh, I feel dirty even thinking about it. I'm off to take a shower in Jeyes Fluid. (Lysol for you US folks).
Excuse me, in what order did you write that date ?
When all numbers are below 12, it's quite hard to get a clue
Is it even 2006 ? 1906 and 1006 fits in too...
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
I've discovered a patch which disables Windows' "phone home" reporting. It's a fairly large download, but it seems to work.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
'm off to take a shower in Jeyes Fluid. (Lysol for you US folks).
Thanks for clearing that up. Before I read the parenthetical, I was thinking about how perverted all you Brits are...
NotthatImagainstthatmindyou.
The opposite of progress is congress
"imagine if the EULA had a clause that stated, in legalese, "...and I further agree to only run Microsoft Operating Systems on this PC from this point forward". You know, all in the name of allowing Microsoft to provide better support, etc. No reason not to add a clause like that, really..."
They can add any wording they like to the EULA. They could state that by you accepting the agreement they have the right to harvest your body's organs, that yours kids become their slaves and they have the right to eat your pets!
But most countries laws prevent that kind of thing - not too sure about US contract law, give it a couple of years...
--
"We've come for your liver"
So... let me see if I interpret your statement correctly. For a successful exploit, I need to: (a) establish a basecamp (install a program with enough priveleges) on the machine. (b) be able to call home at regular intervals (c) have the ability to do what you want with the system Check, check, and check. Looks like MS Genuine Advantage tool has already pwned us all.
"Commander Ballmer ... The time has come, execute Order Sixty-Six."
"Understood, Emperor Bill. Right, lock 'em in, guys, it's remoting time!"
So what is this Genuine thing doing each time it connects?
Connecting 123.123.222.1
Connected
Session 6/6/06-2:22AM
Genuine response: Still a pirate copy of XP, the bastard.
End os session.
Disconnecting
Maybe this is part of the NSA, computers with pirate XP are terrorists!
with mouse drivers calling daily and now the "genuine advantage" calling in daily you would expect that, by now, MS would have a database bigger than Google's. What are they going to do with this, anyway? BTW: I have a client who was told by Genuine Advantage that he had a pirated version of XP and that he had to pay for a new OS. I left him trying to find his sales receipt from a large, national, computer distributor.
Thank God I've been running Linux since 1993!!!
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
Well if anyone can come up with a unexpected and creative solution to that problem, it's you :)
Yeah, just reverse the polarity on your firewall, and send an inverse tachyon pulse on a rotating Heisenberg frequency spread though port 228.
But that's, like, second semester Academy stuff, so don't be too impressed.