“I was sitting around the other day listing all the things I just love about Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft’s antipiracy tool. But then I discovered a hidden WGA feature that I had never heard about, mostly because Microsoft had kept it a secret. It turns out that WGA actually connects to a Microsoft server every time you boot your PC. That’s right. It’s spyware. Microsoft actually installs a tool on your PC that does nothing more than check to ensure that you’re not pirating Windows, and it does this check every single day and then sends the results back to Microsoft. This insidious behavior was first discovered by Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility, and its touched off a debate about disclosure and privacy. But seriously, this is ridiculous,” Paul Thurrott writes for Windows IT Pro.
Full article here.
“Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that it needs to better inform users that its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker. The company said the undisclosed daily check is a safety measure designed to allow the tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to quickly shut down,” The Associated Press reports. “The tool, part of the Redmond company’s bid to thwart widespread piracy, is being distributed gradually to people who have signed up to receive Windows security updates. The company expects to have offered it to all users worldwide by the end of the year… So far, about 60 percent of users who were offered the piracy check decided to install it. Once installed, the program checks to make sure the version of Windows a user is running is legitimate, and gathers information such as the computer’s manufacturer and the language and locale it is set for. That information-gathering is disclosed in a licensing agreement. But the agreement does not make clear that the program also is designed to “call home” to Microsoft’s servers, to make sure that it should keep running. At least every 90 days, the tool also checks again to see if the copy of Windows is legitimate.”
“When Microsoft believes a copy of Windows is pirated, the user begins to get a series of reminders that the copy isn’t genuine. Such users also are barred from downloading non-critical updates, such as the new version of its Internet Explorer browser,” AP reports.
Full article here.
Advertisements:
• Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook. Starting at just $1099
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
What makes this even more insideous, is that there are many legitimate copies of Window’s that identify as pirated with MS.
You don´t think Apple secretly doesn´t do a similar thing???
You guys are babes in the woods…ignorant…
I was at one of the major U.S. aerospace companies the other day (where they have standardized on Dell boxes for the past few years) and found out that WGA won’t even install on any of the machines they have set up in the company. I guess they don’t want WGA installed by any of their employees. I have to wonder how many large firms have done the same thing. Is it as simple as they don’t want MS knowing the configuration of each of their computers? Or is it something more? Why does a company have to lock down its computers so employees cannot install things when they need to just so they don’t get spyware from places like Microsoft?
and PCs, and whatever gets the job done.
That’s good business. Pixar could start over completely with Macs, but instead Jobs is being a good businessman and letting them transition at their own pace.
Nice FUD, though. Why the fear, queezie?
its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker
Why DAILY??
Um, if a given install is legal today, wouldn’t it be remain legal indefinitely? (OS installs usually don’t expire, not yet anyway.) Isn’t a one-time check good enough?
Windows cannot be trusted with any kind of network connection. It never could be. This latest fiasco (from MS themselves no less!) just furthers the point.
Hal , prove your assertions or STFU. FUD doesn’t play here.
Pixar:
Chose Dell boxes running linux to act as render stations for Renderman.
Every artist at Pixar has 2 computers. 1 running linux and Pixar’s custom animation applications and 1 a Mac running everything else.
If you want to know more abour Pixar let me know.
If you want to know more abour Pixar let me know.
How much money does an animator make at Pixar?
nickbob: “Hal , prove your assertions or STFU. FUD doesn’t play here.”
Not only that, but other software companies as well…and you don´t think every govt. secret agency is snooping into your computer, your e-mail, your porn sites visited? And not just the U.S. govt.
Queezie, that’s old news.
Yes, Pixar picked Intel CPUs for doing Cars. This was reported a couple of years ago. Before that, they used Suns. From what I understand, Pixar buys a whole new renderfarm for each movie to keep up with technology. So I’m sure that, at that time, they got a better price/performance deal from Dell than they could have gotten from Apple (remember that Apple is a publicly traded company–Steve can’t just give Pixar 1,000 xServes).
I’m pretty sure MDN reported this back in 2003 or 2004 when it first came out.
So the box “in the closet” that renders the frames is an Intel box. The box on the guy’s desk who’s actually doing the work is a Mac.
This is “news”? Old news, at best. XP has been phoning home for years.
As does my Mac. Once a week my Mac does an inventory of my installed Apple software and checks with Apple to see if there are updates. I’ve never checked to see if that’s all it does, but I’ve never gotten a call for software that wasn’t intended for the system it’s being used on. And how does Apple know that I stripped ‘it’ from my QS when I passed it along and loaded ‘it’ onto my new G5?
MS Advantage is similar. It seems more draconian – I’ve never heard of a Mac not booting because the OS license was exceeded, but who really knows? MS Advantage helps insure your system is up to date with all useful patches and the like. And with all the stuff out to ‘get’ all Windows users, that’s a Real Good Idea.
Hal:
We are not ignorant—we’re gloating. Because even if OSX does phone home, at least it doesn’t actually cripple our machines if it finds what it deems to be pirated system software. Windows does.
“Secret Agent Man”: Shouldn’t you have just used your number instead of that sig as a “name” as you don’t have one anymore? (I must be old. Now I’ve got that damn theme song stuck in my head.)
Well, unfortunately, there are some individuals in the current U.S. Government who would be very happy if all the snooping you about which you refere were in fact true.
“You don´t think Apple secretly doesn´t do a similar thing??? You guys are babes in the woods…ignorant…”
First, when it comes to the Internet, it’s tough to do things “secretly.” Needless to say, this behavior was discovered by noting what computers were talking to who and what apps were sending what information. So if Apple were doing something like this, it certainly wouldn’t be a “secret” anymore than Microsoft doing this is a secret.
I’ll agree that people don’t trust Microsoft more than they should. My favorite example was Windows Update in XP. When Microsoft introduced it, everybody howled–“Microsoft is spying on us!” So, Microsoft turned it off by default. What happened? Nobody updated their software and viruses had a field day. And then everybody howled–“Why did Microsoft turn this off by default?!”
Apple does the same thing and everybody says how great it is–“Wow, I can keep my software up-to-date!” Why is this? Because Mac users trust Apple. Windows users don’t trust Microsoft. Whether anybody should trust either of these companies is a debate for another time…
SERIOSLY THOUGH, ANYONE WHO TRUSTS MICROSOFT WITH THEIR SECURITY DESERVES THAT SHIT!
Game over….
you lose….
Get a Mac.
-Them
Whatever game I’m trying to play, Windows Genuine Advantage gets me killed every 20 minutes. Can’t get rid of it and I’m not paying for my computer twice when it doesn’t work the first time. I payed out the nose for this computer and I can’t even play browser based games on it. Thanks for the big calculator.
The cool thing about this new Windoze feature is that it can be also used an IQ test. The more times your PC checks in b/c it runs WIndoze, the dummer you are. Take Ballmer for instance, he is classified as barely drooling.
Let’s just say that “hypothetically,” I’m running a pirated version of Windows XP Home Edition under Virtual PC on my Powerbook and Quicksilver.
What could “hypothetically” happen? Is there a way to turn this off? “Hypothetically,” of course.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
The funny thing is that if you are installing pirated software you won’t want to install an anti-piracy program, so the approach is self defeating.
If you buy a box with windows installed already, it should be a legitimate copy. So where’s the need to install an anti-piracy program.
Unless of course M$ are going to include the program in all new versions of windows, so even pirated versions will install it.
Or M$ are trying to hunt down people who pirate other M$ software such as Office.
If I was an evil and clever person (evil is relative, but I’m not really that clever), it would be great fun to create a trojan or virus that would alter the Windows Genuine Advantage program to shut down all copies of Windows (legit or not) on a particular day and time of my choosing. It would have the side benefit of slowing down other virus propagation for a while, at least until the Windows users figured out how to remove Windows Genuine Advantage from their non functioning computers.
I’m just dreaming, don’t blame me if something like this actually happens. ; )
My current Windows box (used Dell) came with a hacked version of XT on it. It once had a legit copy … until the HD died horribly, screaming in pain … so I don’t feel any guilt about using the hacked copy. I can’t get the “Advantage” because you need to be registered to get it. So … if I’m legit it’s a Good thing and if I’m not it’s No Big Deal?
It isn’t that I care much, but I succumbed to that ad for fightinvisibusiness.com MDN ran for so long … the one where you can get a free domain and free web hosting but you need to be using <u>IE 6</u> or later (it says “better” but won’t let you use Safari or Firefox) to access the tools. Seeing as Microsoft is paying for me to have this web presence, plus five email accounts, using their nasty product isn’t (so far) too high a price to pay.
And I have the box Folding@Home when not in use.
Microsoft just announced (see CNET) that their GWA program is going to be modified to only check in every 14 days instead of daily. By the end of the year, it will not check in at all…
Think that maybe they are finally getting the picture or do you think they have a more hidden way of doing this that is harder to detect? Nah, that’s giving them too much credit for finese…
About a week ago, I got the pirated message about my legitimate Windows copy. I was pestered to buy a new license. Turns out, the date on my laptop was wrong, which obviously means the software wasn’t mine.
I try to stay level-headed, but I literally HATE the practices of that company.
You don´t think Apple secretly doesn´t do a similar thing???
I don’t know if Software Update checks other things besides versions of Apple software, but I have Little Snitch and don’t allow Software Update access. Anyone know if there’s any Little Snitch-like apps for Windows?
I’m reporting all unauthorized use of software by anyone everywhere anytime. I’m a journalist, you see, its my job to ferret out secrets and make them public, Just doin’ my job, just like Microsoft.