Slashdot Mirror
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"
Anyone sniff out the offending packets yet? I'm sure they can't be too hard to identify. Probably simple HTTP posts.
If nobody has I'll sniff anything going to Microsoft's Class B (207.46.*.*) later tonight.
--
From Northern Virginia? Visit Fairfax Underground! (Just added: Fairfax County wiki, need submissions)
This happened to my Uncle's computer yesterday - Uncle Sam that is. The WinBlows PC that is my email machine popped up the "This copy of Windows is not genuine" tag yesterday. This is on a major DoD site that has Everything legit, monitored, and locked up. It locked the system down so that I could not access the system with either the CAC card/PIN method nor the username/password means.
The Genuine Advantage tool doesn't lock your system. It just doesn't let you download cool freebies (at this time).
You got hit by something else. Upthread someone said that there's some spyware which masquerades as the Genuine Advantage system, and *does* lock your system down.
Coming soon - pyrogyra
If you ever install the Microsoft mouse driver from the CD that accompanies the mouse, you'll find that it too calls in each day.
Why does a mouse driver need to call in daily?
A better question is: Why install the driver at all?
Pretty well every version of Windows recognizes a Microsoft mouse with no need for drivers from the CD.
And how long until their regular check-in procedure for whether or not your computer is running legal copies of software morphs into a marketing opportunity by linking your ip address to your windows registration for tracking purposes? It would be the ultimate cookie, since it could essentially link every Windows user on the internet to the purchaser of the windows license, no matter where the computer moves to. Companies would leap all over this database in backroom deals, since it could allow advertisers or other companies to know the full identity of users the moment they bring up a page.
I am running 3 copies of WinXP, and own 5 legal licenses. I still don't want MS invading my privacy. If the only thing your worried about is whether it annoys you or not, you shouldn't mind your neighbor putting a web cam in your shower as long as he covers the little red light.
Last week my "genuine" copy of Windows was accused of being pirated when I accidentally changed the date on my computer. There was no way to fix it, I spoke with several members of Windows customer support who could not help me and transfered me in a complete circle ending up with the original number that I called. I had to reinstall windows, hoping it would help and that I wouldn't lose everything (since I was prevented from accessing windows during this time). Reinstalling (repairing existing installation) helped but I still got the "not genuine windows" warning until I changed the date back to the correct date.
:(
Thank you, Microsoft!
And luckily, you have that choice, but I am afraid it is you that has missed the point. Microsoft owns that software, not you. You are merely licensed to use it. By agreeing to the EULA and continuing to use Windows, you agree to whatever conditions Microsoft sets forth. The best part of it is that you *pay* for the honor of doing so. If you disagree with Microsoft's actions, you are free to use another operating system or office suite or what have you. I just wonder when that final choice will disappear; 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...
Don't forget that the Windows firewall software (which will supposedly protect outbound traffic as well as inbound in Vista) allows software to change the rules dynamically and without asking you.
I looked for a very long time on McAfee's site to figure out how the ASAP intranet updating software worked so I could set appropriate firewall rules. Then I noticed that with a fully locked-down PC, it was already receiving said updates and connecting to other locked-down PCs for them.
Great, I thought, the Windows firewall really is useless.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
A virus could use one of the "Product-Key Changer" scripts (see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=328874) to install a pirated product key on every infected computer (whiping all traces of the original key).
This would render millions of genuine installations indistinguishable from pirated installations. What a mess for Microsoft! They would have to immediately "kill forever" the WGA helper, and maybe even remove the WGA check on Windows Update.
Such a virus would be a hard lesson to learn for the writers of all kinds of automated "genuine" checks.
Regards,
M.