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All Microsoft Updates Phone Home
juct writes "In the wake of heise Security's report on the garrulous WGA Notification, Microsoft has now supplied additional details on the data sent. They have revealed to developers that apparently all updates relay information to the company in Redmond."
*In his best E.T. voice*
P.C. Phone Home
*ahem* I mean.. uhh.. I can understand wanting some information about the machines running one's software, as it helps understand the market and improve upon current design. But SOME of this information seems a bit excessive. Unless one plans to start banning specific pieces of hardware, but that's just evil.
> By learning at what point in the install process some users decide to abandon, we can put more effort into the right places in the installation wizard. Remember our goal with the wizard is to give more information so customers will be better informed. We heard from customers that they wanted more information about what the software was and how it worked so we created the install wizard to provide that greater context. Knowing this kind of information about the install wizard installations is critical for us to continue to improve the customer experience of WGA. If we are not hitting that mark, we can use this method to improve.
By learning at what point in the install process some users decide to say "Fuck this, I didn't sign up for this!", we can put more effort into the right places in the installation wizard. Remember our goal with the wizard is to obfuscate and misdirect so customers will either not know how we're spying on them, or for those who figure it out, at least they won't be able to sue us over it. We heard from customers that they wanted to know what else were doing behind their backs so we created the install wizard to provide us with plausible deniability. Knowing this kind of information about the install wizard installations is critical for us to continue to propagate the viral meme of WGA and other notions, like software as a service, and ultimately the notion of an operating system as a subscription-based service, like we're doing with the Windows Vista self-destruct sequence. If we are not hitting that mark, we can use this method to slowly increase the amount of DRM we've crammed up your ass until you look like the Goatse Guy, and if we do it slowly enough, you'll not only pay us, you'll thank us for the privilege!.
Well, they could use it to disallow access to downloads using this particular installation of Windows.
Then they don't need to identify the person, but they want to store those hashes that identify the particular installation.
I doubt M$ will want to retain THAT information...
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
MS is really running a P2P network through all its zombies (er, I mean, installs).
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Ever been stopped on the way out the door at Costco? You're basically proving to the door lackey that you're not stealing anything.
you mean...they're not checking to make sure i didn't get overcharged?
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the theatre?
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE