Big brother Microsoft is snooper than I thought

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From here:

It turns out that Microsoft is getting even more from your Windows-powered PC than I thought they were. It figures, doesn't it?

While, I'm more than a little suspicious about what Microsoft's Genuine Advantage software is doing to Windows computers, I didn't look deep enough into Microsoft's own resources to see if they were officially already taking out more than they admitted to in their conversations with the press.

Fortunately, for all of us, Groklaw's Pamela Jones did do the needed spade work.

In her story, Microsoft's Calling Home Problem: It's a Matter of Informed Consent, she reports in great detail what she, and other writers, have discovered about the Genuine Advantage programs.

In short, Microsoft is admitting to pulling even more information from your PCs -- such as your IP address and date and timestamp data "relating to systems' booting and continued operations." In addition, Jones shows how Microsoft essentially tricks users into agreeing to all this without giving them any chance to say no to the entire process.

Oh, and as for backing out from all this? Forget about it. You're stuck with it. As Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post says, "Notifications -- unlike other Microsoft updates -- cannot be uninstalled."

And, people wonder why I'm so fond of Linux desktops!

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Can Microsoft Remotely Kill Your Windows PC?

You may have bought and paid for Windows XP. But Microsoft decides whether or not you can use it.

If your XP software is up-to-date and online, it negotiates its validity with Microsoft servers every day. Nothing personal. Just part of Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (DRM) system protecting Redmond's property... checking to see if your Windows software (and heaven only knows what else) is perfectly valid.

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