Windows Genuine Advantage is Spyware
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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
has written on Microsoft's "Windows Genuine Advantage" and its secret phone-home-daily behavior:
Here's the point. For over a year, Microsoft has planted a program on every modern Windows-powered PC that reported home every day. They don't have an intelligent reason, never mind a good one, for this move. And, they never told anyone that they were doing this.
I guess it must do a darn good job of hiding itself from firewalls and network monitoring tools too since we've only now found out this daily checkup call after tens of millions of PCs have been phoning in for almost a year.
I will add that, as a programmer, I consider Microsoft's explanation -- that this was so they could "terminate the program quickly" if it ever ran amok -- to be a complete crock. In the first place, out-of-control programs tend
not to continue their correct behavior, and generally ignore their designed termination. In the second place, this should be under the
owner's control, not Microsoft's. If the program is running wild on my PC, do I want to wait 24 hours for it to check in with Microsoft (who might not know it's running wild), or do I want a "kill" button?
I think a more plausible reason for the daily check is so that Microsoft could quietly disable this feature, without telling anyone, if it ever looked like it might become embarassing. (Too late.)
PJ at Groklaw has raised the very interesting legal issue of
"informed consent". She points out that Microsoft users were
not able to give informed consent to this program, because Microsoft didn't disclose everything they were installing and everything those programs would do.
The notion of informed consent is that you have to know what you are saying yes to, and the party asking for your consent has an obligation to tell you the things you need to know to make an informed decision.
Short version: Microsoft lied about this, so any consent is meaningless.
We have a word for software which installs itself on your PC without your consent, and surreptitiously reports information from your PC back to a remote server. It's called "spyware."
I should add that while consent may be given, it's given under something of a threat. If you don't install WGA on your computer, Microsoft won't send you any security patches. Even if your copy of Windows is 100% legit. And I'm sure you know that Windows is shot full of security holes, and running a Windows PC without all current security patches is a certain path to being hacked and having your data stolen or your computer crippled. In short: "Install this software, or your PC gets it." Who's going to say no to that?
Maybe taking this out of the computer realm would make it clearer. Remember the
Ford Pinto, with the famous exploding gas tank? Suppose you owned one, and Ford said to you: "We'll fix your gas tank, but only if you let us install this little black box in your engine compartment. If you don't want the black box, sorry, we won't fix the gas tank."
Would you consider that ethical behavior?
Does it excuse their behavior if they say, "Don't worry, the box only records your engine speed for when you bring it in to your mechanic." And later it turns out the box has a GPS and a radio transmitter that's constantly reporting your driving to Ford. Is that ethical behavior?
I'll let Vaughan-Nichols have the last word:
Maybe you can trust your computer, your livelihood, your home finances, your kids' games, everything you do online, to a company that would do that, but you can count me out.
Brad
- Monday 12 June 2006 - 06:00:21
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