It’s hip2b2

Things seem to be heating for Microsoft after it released the notorious Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tools. WGA comes in two (2) parts. One part is the WGA validation tool that checks if you are using a licenced copy of MS Windows XP. The second part is called the WGA notifier. This part will inform you routinely that a copy of MS Windows XP is not legal and will inform you on how to obtain legitimate copies. This story has been covered by numerous publishers already. There have been a lot of claims of this tool violating privacy and behaving like spyware. This is particularly true about the WGA notifier that routinely scans for updates and installs of itself. This potentially allows Microsoft to obtain any information from your PC and install any code into your PC. Sounds like spyware?

Microsoft has already released its statement informing users that the difference between WGA and spyware is that it informs users about what it is doing. However, I bumped into this interesting summary by our friendly hard hitting paralegals at Groklaw.

David Berlind [of ZDnet] 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. I think it’s muddier even than that, after reading the EULA. Thanks to Berlind’s work, I see a legal problem with consent, which I noticed by reading the EULA. I also see a problem with the statement Microsoft has issued with regard to what information it collects. And something in the EULA needs to be explained, because it doesn’t match Microsoft’s statement.

O-oh! Does this mean that Microsoft’s statement about the information it collects is different from the ones that it actually does? It also says there that Microsoft only asks permission to install one component and not the other. Therefore, the other one can be considered spyware? Continue reading the Groklaw article for all the gorry details.

Microsoft has to admit that the “informed consent” part is not being very well implemented. Microsoft will probably have to do a better job of phrasing its statement and making them more consistent. This is especially true when it comes to things that potentially violate end-user privacy. However, this is something I believe the legal eagles in Microsoft can easily fix. So, if Microsoft can fix this part then all should be well. However, it should be noted that this is just the beginning.

You have been given a vision of the future, where software will be a service, and all you get is a license to use it the way they allow you to use it. How do you like Microsoft’s Brave New World? Surely they will find a way to check that you are complying with all the above, so I think it’s clear that if you stay with Microsoft products, you have to agree to share your computer with them, that your privacy will be in their hands, and that they can control your computer without your say so.

This is basically the bottomline. If you don’t want to comply don’t use our software. This is pretty straight forward isn’t it? To move it a step futher, if you don’t want to let us have access to your computer system and give us all the data well need don’t use our software. I believe if you like using their software then you have no choice but to agree. They wrote it and they are just licensing (note that they are not selling) it to you. They can get all the information they want if you agree to their click-wrap EULA. Heck, Microsoft needs this information to combat piracy. So give it to them. If you don’t like this then use somebody elses software.

Linux or OpenSolaris anyone?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 5:24 am and is filed under Musings and Speculations, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.