Microsoft Sued Over WGA

Hope Thelps writes "The Seattle PI is reporting on a lawsuit being brought against Microsoft in response to their WGA spyware. Groklaw is also covering the story. Although there are a lot of similarities to Sony's rootkit, the actual harm done is less concrete. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out."

Comments

Re:Not hidden, not spyware

[malakai]

Call BS on this one.

I would have seen that behavior on one of hundreds of PCs. I have not.

You're either posting for FUD, or your machine isnt' configured how you think it is.

Or the problem is between the keyboard and the chair.

Remove WGA

[cciRRus]

Just thought that you guys might wanna know that Microsoft has came up with an article on removing WGA.

WGA removal utility?

[kimvette]

http://www.firewallleaktester.com/removewga.htm

I CANNOT vouch for the legitimacy of that utility (so scan it first, try it on a staging machine, etc., YMMV, Batteries not included, and all that jazz). I just did a quick search for utilities for removing WGA, but being a Linux user I don't have much use for it myself. There are reviews of it on legitimate sites (for example, PC World) but then they've also unknowingly recommended scumware in the past as well.

Re:WGA removal utility?

[MeNeXT]

You need no utility;

1) Kill wgatray.exe in process in Task Manger
2) Restart in safe mode
3) Delete WgaTray.exe from Windows\System32 and Windows\System32\dllcache
4) Lauch RegEdit and Delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WgaLogon
5) Reboot

Re:Hopefully....

[c_forq]

You don't need a license to copy windows for archival purposes, but you do need a licence to run it, since you don't actually own the program (you own the licence to use the program, which almost always comes with a copy of the program).

Re:I recall a full disclosure and ...

[ipfwadm]

Clear notice that this was an optional install. I could have elected not to install it and had my machine function as before.

Let's see... I just ran Microsoft Update, then I clicked "Custom". It tells me:

To use Microsoft Update, you must first install the latest version of some Windows components. This will allow your computer to work with these new features on the site:

• More updates: Get updates for Windows and for popular Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Office in one place.
• Faster updates: The latest Windows Installer (MSI) improves the way updates are installed, delivering updates in the smallest possible packages in the shortest amount of time.
• Easier navigation: Now you can find updates by priority or by product while helpful links and important messages help ensure you are installing all high-priority updates for your computer.

No mention of WGA. So I click "Details" and lo and behold, it's the WGA Validation Tool that I must install. My only option is "Download and Install Now". There is no skip, ignore, anything. So as far as I can tell, in order to continue receiving updates, I must install this spyware. I don't feel that that qualifies as an "optional" install.

Re:Interesting...

[VertigoAce]

You might find this press release from a couple days ago kind of interesting.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/j un06/06-27WGA.mspx

It discusses the history of WGA, the licensing, the server-side communication, etc, as well as what they changed in the update that was released on the 27th.

Re:Hopefully....

[Martin Blank]

You're granted the license to use the program. You don't own the license. The license may be removed by the copyright owner if you violate the EULA, which is akin to land in a fiefdom that can be removed if you cross the rules of the owning lord.