TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Microsoft Plans Better Disclosures of Tool

Re: Microsoft Plans Better Disclosures of Tool

mc (look@www.ai.uga.edu.for.address)
Thu, 8 Jun 2006 19:25:54 -0400

> The company said the undisclosed daily check is a safety measure
> designed to allow the tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to
> quickly shut down in case of a malfunction. For example, if the
> company suddenly started seeing a rash of reports that Windows copies
> were pirated, it might want to shut down the program to make sure it
> wasn't delivering false results.

Bogus. The tool only needs to contact Microsoft when it changes state
in some way (e.g., when it concludes for the first time that it is
running on a pirated copy). I see no legitimate reason for it to
phone home every day.

Further, I see a serious problem here with computers containing
records that are required by law to be kept confidential (such as
university computers with grades on them). We don't *know* whether
it's sending any of our confidential data to Microsoft. We fully
believe it is not, but all we have is Microsoft's word and we can't
testify to it ourselves. We aren't authorized to just trust Microsoft
on that point.

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