eWeek: Big Microsoft Brother
“It turns out that Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage anti-piracy
program is also keeping daily tabs on Windows users. Who knew?“Well, until a few days ago, nobody outside of Microsoft
headquarters in Redmond, Wash., knew…”
Groklaw: Microsoft’s Calling Home Problem: It’s a Matter of
Informed Consent
“Lauren Weinstein broke the story on his blog. Microsoft has now
put out a statement, asserting that the Windows Genuine Advantage
tool is not spyware, that they’re going to change it some, and that
one thing that distinguishes it from spyware is that they get
consent before installing it. I question the accuracy of the
statement.“David Berlind did a fabulous job of discovering that in fact
the tool has two parts, one of which is new, the Notification part,
as you can see in his helpful series of screenshots. First, he
explains how the applications actually work. His research indicated
to him that Microsoft asks permission for only one of the two, but
the wrong one….”