Bill Anderson wrote:
"The following comment from a privacy forum was posted to a list I
subscribe to and curiously follows on the heels of last week's
BackSpin column on companies doing things without informing the users
of their products:
"A recent Microsoft update to Windows XP, which modifies the tool that
verifies the 'validity' of XP installations to ensure that they are
not illicit, may itself be considered to be spyware under commonly
accepted definitions."
This update to the Microsoft Genuine Advantage tool, as it is called,
will apparently nag you should it decide that you don't have a kosher
copy and will eventually disable certain "noncritical" features.
Many are concerned that the Microsoft Genuine Advantage "tool will now
attempt to contact Microsoft over the Internet every time that you
boot. . . . Perhaps it stops after some number of boots, but there's
no indication of such a limit so far. The connections occur even if
you do not have Windows 'automatic update' enabled."
Microsoft has admitted that Microsoft Genuine Advantage does indeed
call back to the mothership and that its user license agreement failed
to mention the fact. So as none of us agreed that Microsoft could do
this, it sure sounds like it is guilty of distributing spyware."
"Microsoft is once again constricting user choice by sheer marketing
force, and when the ecology is reduced innovation will suffer. Add to
that the potential danger of digital pandemics from viruses and
hackers increasing by orders of magnitude and things don't look good."
"Something has got to happen, otherwise consumer and corporate
computing will become a dangerous, monolithic Microsoft world. Think
your job is hard now? Just wait."
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/061206backspin.html>
See....I knew that feeling I got about my posting of this message from
my Windows installation recently gave me the creepies! ;-)
Microsoft is counting on the fact that 98% of folks don't read the fine
print and/or EULAs but instead just hit the "I Accept" button.
--
Michael J. Babcock, MCP
MB Software Solutions, LLC
http://mbsoftwaresolutions.com
http://fabmate.com
"Work smarter, not harder, with MBSS custom software solutions!"
_______________________________________________
Post Messages to: [email protected]
Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox
OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech
** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the
author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added
to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
