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Lawsuit Claims WGA Is Spyware
twitter writes "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's euphemistically named digital restrictions scheme, is the target of another spyware and false advertising lawsuit. 'Microsoft this week was sued in a Washington district court for allegedly violating privacy laws through Windows XP's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) copy protection scheme. Similar to cases filed in 2006, the new class action case accuses Microsoft of falsely representing what information WGA would send to verify the authenticity of Windows and that it would send back information [daily IP address and other details that could be used to trace information back to a home or user]. The complaint further argued that Microsoft portrayed WGA as a necessary security update rather than acknowledge its copy protection nature in the update. WGA's implementation also prevented users from purging the protection from their PCs without completely reformatting a computer's system drive.' There were at least two other lawsuits launched in 2006 over WGA. According to the Wikipedia article, none of them have been resolved. The system is built into Vista and Windows 7."
eat mah frosty pith!
That's funny. The last time I bought an OS that wanted me to pay more money every year it turned out to be from Red Hat. Ok, technically I bought the 'support', but at 12-months-plus-one-second all of a sudden my Red Hat updates stopped working. Give MS a break. At least you can buy the OS, instead of leasing it.
When I was in the military, the most prominent college available on base (stationed overseas) was called "The University of Maryland University College"
It's as much of a university as, say, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is democratic.
Just curious, why did you join the military?
I am in the USA and could never knowingly join ranks with our military. If I thought I was really defending this nation's soil from a foreign aggressor, I'd have no problem with it. However, right now, I think that in the military today *I* would be the aggressor, and all because a few politicians need an excuse to remove civil liberties and a few corporations like Blackwater have little demand for their services during times of peace. I cannot in good conscience invade a soverign foreign nation for no reason other than advancing the economic empire of the USA. The official stories just don't add up. This is the same nation and the same military that routinely overthrows soverign nations to instill dictators more favorable to our interests, and then goes after those dictators when they don't want to play ball anymore (and then thinks that radical foreigners hate us "for our freedoms", what a joke). You saw that with Iran during the 50s and the current eagerness to invade Iran now that our meddling has resulted in a strong anti-american sentiment in a nation that is beginning to acquire nuclear technology.
What part of this appealed to you and made you want to join up? The college scholarships?
I got what I paid for from both. However, after the support period expires Windows is still eligible for updates. The only 'support' I no longer have access to is actual 'support.' Guess what? I don't recall ever contacting MS or Red Hat for support.
Why does MS always become an emotional issue? I was merely pointing out that MS does not in fact want people to pay money for the OS every year, whereas at least some other vendors do. Why is paying for an OS an issue anyway? I spent at least an order of magnitude more on hardware and software, so why would I concern myself with whatever the cost of the OS might be? Because there's a passionate community on a mission to tell me I'm an idiot for paying for an OS when there are better, free alternatives? I don't care. It's just one of dozens of technologies that I employ to get a certain job done.
How is this hijacking a topic, and who are you exactly to admonish me for it? This was a direct response to an inaccurate assertion. Can't I be neutral here, or is it a prerequisite to be an OpenSource fanboy and MS hater to post an opinion?
I don't know how your post is considered insightful. Honestly. I couldn't care less about any OS or cost structure so long as the job I want gets done.
Steve Ballmer is that you?
I served with GNAA, and you, sir, are no GNAA!
Linus Torvalds is that you?