Do you know that one of the lastest xp up dates checks your computer every 90 days to make sure that your xp see a paid for copy. I don't know what happens if it think you have a copy it doesn't like?
YES WE ALL KNOW........ Microsoft in legal trouble over Windows Genuine Advantage 6/30/2006 11:38:55 AM, by Ken Fisher In the good old days of 2001, Microsoft started an aggressive anti-piracy initiative that is still alive today. Called "Windows Product Activation," Microsoft's early iterations attempted to verify copies of Windows online, going so far as to scan system components in an effort to individually identify machines. Some five years later Microsoft is still trying to keep an eye on piracy online, but they're going about it in a way that angers many. Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson has field suit against Microsoft in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, charging the company with failing to disclose the true nature of a similar anti-piracy tool that Microsoft has distributed. The tool in question is the now-notorious "Windows Genuine Advantage"—an descendant of sorts from the old WPA approach. Johnson's complaint centers around the fact that previous versions of WGA constantly "called home" to Microsoft, which in his view constitutes a a violation of anti-spyware laws in both California and Washington State. Johnson's suit seeks class-action status for the complaint, and it is being fronted by Scott Kamber of Kamber & Associates LLC in New York. Kamber recently served as plaintiff's counsel in the rootkit fiasco centering on Sony. According to the complaint, "Microsoft effectively installed the WGA software on consumers' systems without providing consumers any opportunity to make an informed choice about that software." Furthermore, Microsoft was accused of "misleading and unlawful conduct in installing uninstallable licensing enforcement software under the guise and misrepresentation of a security update..." Microsoft has dismissed the complaint, calling it "baseless." Of the many issues that surround the case, one that will be particularly important as it moves forward relates to the definition of spyware. In legislative debates over the matter, legislators, lobbyists, and software representatives couldn't agree on the essential definition of spyware, and many software companies were concerned that a loose definition could result in frivolous lawsuits. Microsoft's position on the matter seems to adopt this view. Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesman, said that "spyware is deceptive software that is installed on a user's computer without the user's consent and has some malicious purpose." As such, he argued, WGA doesn't fit the bill. Technically speaking, WGA does require the "consent" of a computer's operator to be installed, although that consent could be considered somewhat weak given that it is presented as a mandatory update. To Microsoft, however, the fact that the tool once called home daily is of little significance, inasmuch as what it is designed to do is singular in its purpose: to constantly monitor the licensed state of a Windows install. In their view, WGA would have to have some ulterior functionality to be true spyware. Nevertheless, the company changed the frequency of callbacks to something closer to every 90 days, although the company has not explicitly said what the periodicity is. To be sure, while rumors relating to WGA's supposedly nefarious capabilities are rampant (and include the possibility of it housing a kill switch), nothing has been "found in the wild" (so to speak) that rises to the level of Sony's rootkit, which made demonstrably unsound changes to the Windows operating system. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which broke the story, quotes the co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility as saying that WGA doesn't cause "anywhere near the kind of damage that is normally associated with spyware." Nevertheless, pervious versions of the tool did not disclose details of the "phone home" system, and questions remain regarding the propriety of distributing an anti-piracy tool as a security update. As of yet, no court dates have been set. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060630-7171.html
(Computerworld) -- Microsoft Corp. today denied speculation that it plans to cripple copies of Windows XP for users who refuse to install its controversial antipiracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). But the software company confirmed that for its upcoming Windows Vista operating system, companies will be required to activate their software differently than they do today in order to prevent the leakage of volume licenses that are the source of most Windows piracy. A ZDNet.com blogger reported earlier in the week on a conversation between a Windows user and a Microsoft support staffer, who allegedly admitted that users who refused to install the WGA update would be given 30 days before their copies of Windows would stop working. ZDNet.com said that Microsoft refused to deny the report at the time. But later, Microsoft appeared to sing a different tune. “No, Microsoft antipiracy technologies cannot and will not turn off your computer,” said a spokeswoman with Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft’s public relations firm. “The game is changing for counterfeiters. In Windows Vista, we are making it notably harder and less appealing to use counterfeit software, and we will work to make that a consistent experience with older versions of Windows as well.” Microsoft last fall began testing WGA as a way of trying to find pirated copies of Windows. In mid-June, it announced that users would need to download and pass WGA to be eligible to download the latest versions of add-on software such as Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11. Users would still be able get the latest security updates, though. Companies that buy Windows XP through large package deals are exempt from having to install WGA. Since then, Microsoft has taken considerable heat from consumers and the media, who have likened WGA to spyware that has sometimes inaccurately labeled legal copies of Windows as pirated. Through its spokeswoman, Microsoft said that “80% of all WGA validation failures are due to unauthorized use of leaked or stolen volume license keys.” Still, WGA has been so controversial that it led a French programmer to develop a tool to delete WGA and a Windows customer in Los Angeles to file a class-action lawsuit. Microsoft has tried to appease customers by releasing a new version of WGA that checks users’ computers only once a month, rather than every day. The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges that WGA violates antispyware laws by not fully disclosing itself when it was delivered to Windows users through Auto-Update. The suit is headed by the same lawyer who also led the class-action lawsuit earlier this year against Sony Corp. for not disclosing that it had placed copy-protection rootkit software on customers’ PCs via music CDs it sold. The rootkits disabled users' protections against viruses and spyware. Sony later settled the lawsuit. GO HERE TO READ IT ALL http://www.computerworld.com/action...icleBasic&articleId=9001559&source=rss_news10 PAGE 2
