A
Alias
Flightless Bird
http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...anti_piracy_practice_unacceptable_says_critic
The article for those running Windows and are afraid to click on urls in
Usenet messages:
The Internet advocate who blasted Microsoft in 2006 over the daily
"phone home" habits of its anti-piracy software took the company to task
again today for a new practice that will examine consumers' Windows 7
PCs every 90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS.
Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility
(PFIR), urged Windows 7 users not to accept the option update to Windows
Activation Technologies (WAT) when Microsoft begins seeding it to the
Windows Update service later this month.
"The approach that Microsoft is now taking doesn't seem to make sense,
even for honest consumers," Weinstein argued in a post to his blog.
"Microsoft will trigger forced downgrading to non-genuine status if they
believe a Windows 7 system is potentially pirated based on their 'phone
home' checks that will occur at (for now) 90 day intervals during the
entire life of Windows 7 on a given PC, even months or years after purchase.
On Thursday, Microsoft announced the WAT update would identify pirated
copies of Windows 7 that had been illegally activated using any of more
than 70 "cracks," or activation exploits. After users install the
update, the WAT software will regularly connect with Microsoft's servers
-- the "phone home" functionality that Weinstein called out -- to
download new crack "signatures," which would then be used to reevaluate
the copy of Windows 7.
The repeated validation is new to Windows, confirmed Joe Williams, the
general manager of Microsoft's Genuine Windows group, who said that
neither Windows XP or Vista had reevaluated already-activated Windows
PCs on a regular schedule. Machines that had had significant hardware
component replacements were the exception: Swapping out a motherboard,
for instance, would typically trigger another activation validation.
Williams defended the change. "We want to make sure we're protecting our
customers," he said, against newly-developed activation cracks that may
have slipped by Microsoft, or simply not been in use, when the PC was
originally activated. "And we're a commercial enterprise, and it is
important that our [intellectual property] is protected."
Weinstein countered that Microsoft was overstepping its bounds by
demanding validations in perpetuity. "Say you've used your system for a
year. Is it reasonable for Microsoft to say, 'We changed our mind and
now you're not genuine'?" asked Weinstein in an interview today. "It's
one thing to validate when you originally get the system, but to do that
months or years later, and [for] Microsoft [to] say, 'Now we're going to
say your Windows is not genuine,' ...it becomes a matter of ownership.
At what point is one free of this constant checking?"
Weinstein called the new Microsoft WAT update an "unacceptable
intrusion" and more. "For Microsoft to assert that they have the right
to treat ordinary PC-using consumers in this manner, declaring their
systems to be non-genuine and downgrading them at any time, is rather
staggering," he said.
He recommended that users reject the download of the WAT update. To do
that, users may have to reset Windows Update so that it does not
automatically download and install every update.
Microsoft's Williams suggested the same if users don't want Microsoft
re-validating Windows. "We're pretty insistent that this is a voluntary
update," he said. "And any customers who don't want WAT can uninstall
the update after it's installed." The uninstall option is new for
Microsoft's anti-piracy software; in the past, once installed, it could
not be removed.
Weinstein may be best known to Windows users for uncovering the secret
"phone home" characteristics of WAT's predecessor, Windows Genuine
Advantage (WGA), when Microsoft launched an update in June 2006. The hue
and cry over the feature drove Microsoft to first deny Weinstein's
charge that WGA was spyware, then to retreat from the constant
communication.
Today, Williams argued that the WAT update was not similar to the 2006
incident. "This is different," he said. "Why we took grief then was
because of a lack of disclosure, not the functionality of the feature."
Weinstein disagreed, saying that it was the feature itself that was
objectionable. "The approach represented by this kind of escalation,
into what basically amounts to a perpetual anti-piracy surveillance
regime embedded within already-purchased consumer equipment, is entirely
unacceptable," he said.
Microsoft has not announced a date when it will begin issuing the WAT
update via Windows Update -- only that it will happen this month -- but
has said it will post the update on its manual download site Feb. 17.
--
Alias
The article for those running Windows and are afraid to click on urls in
Usenet messages:
The Internet advocate who blasted Microsoft in 2006 over the daily
"phone home" habits of its anti-piracy software took the company to task
again today for a new practice that will examine consumers' Windows 7
PCs every 90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS.
Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility
(PFIR), urged Windows 7 users not to accept the option update to Windows
Activation Technologies (WAT) when Microsoft begins seeding it to the
Windows Update service later this month.
"The approach that Microsoft is now taking doesn't seem to make sense,
even for honest consumers," Weinstein argued in a post to his blog.
"Microsoft will trigger forced downgrading to non-genuine status if they
believe a Windows 7 system is potentially pirated based on their 'phone
home' checks that will occur at (for now) 90 day intervals during the
entire life of Windows 7 on a given PC, even months or years after purchase.
On Thursday, Microsoft announced the WAT update would identify pirated
copies of Windows 7 that had been illegally activated using any of more
than 70 "cracks," or activation exploits. After users install the
update, the WAT software will regularly connect with Microsoft's servers
-- the "phone home" functionality that Weinstein called out -- to
download new crack "signatures," which would then be used to reevaluate
the copy of Windows 7.
The repeated validation is new to Windows, confirmed Joe Williams, the
general manager of Microsoft's Genuine Windows group, who said that
neither Windows XP or Vista had reevaluated already-activated Windows
PCs on a regular schedule. Machines that had had significant hardware
component replacements were the exception: Swapping out a motherboard,
for instance, would typically trigger another activation validation.
Williams defended the change. "We want to make sure we're protecting our
customers," he said, against newly-developed activation cracks that may
have slipped by Microsoft, or simply not been in use, when the PC was
originally activated. "And we're a commercial enterprise, and it is
important that our [intellectual property] is protected."
Weinstein countered that Microsoft was overstepping its bounds by
demanding validations in perpetuity. "Say you've used your system for a
year. Is it reasonable for Microsoft to say, 'We changed our mind and
now you're not genuine'?" asked Weinstein in an interview today. "It's
one thing to validate when you originally get the system, but to do that
months or years later, and [for] Microsoft [to] say, 'Now we're going to
say your Windows is not genuine,' ...it becomes a matter of ownership.
At what point is one free of this constant checking?"
Weinstein called the new Microsoft WAT update an "unacceptable
intrusion" and more. "For Microsoft to assert that they have the right
to treat ordinary PC-using consumers in this manner, declaring their
systems to be non-genuine and downgrading them at any time, is rather
staggering," he said.
He recommended that users reject the download of the WAT update. To do
that, users may have to reset Windows Update so that it does not
automatically download and install every update.
Microsoft's Williams suggested the same if users don't want Microsoft
re-validating Windows. "We're pretty insistent that this is a voluntary
update," he said. "And any customers who don't want WAT can uninstall
the update after it's installed." The uninstall option is new for
Microsoft's anti-piracy software; in the past, once installed, it could
not be removed.
Weinstein may be best known to Windows users for uncovering the secret
"phone home" characteristics of WAT's predecessor, Windows Genuine
Advantage (WGA), when Microsoft launched an update in June 2006. The hue
and cry over the feature drove Microsoft to first deny Weinstein's
charge that WGA was spyware, then to retreat from the constant
communication.
Today, Williams argued that the WAT update was not similar to the 2006
incident. "This is different," he said. "Why we took grief then was
because of a lack of disclosure, not the functionality of the feature."
Weinstein disagreed, saying that it was the feature itself that was
objectionable. "The approach represented by this kind of escalation,
into what basically amounts to a perpetual anti-piracy surveillance
regime embedded within already-purchased consumer equipment, is entirely
unacceptable," he said.
Microsoft has not announced a date when it will begin issuing the WAT
update via Windows Update -- only that it will happen this month -- but
has said it will post the update on its manual download site Feb. 17.
--
Alias
4:48 +0000, Al Smith wrote: