Microsoft Drops XP Pirate Checks - Class action suit filed

Since I was speaking about class action suits the other day I thought I would relay this story about MS's daily bed checks and how they've pissed off end users . . .

Microsoft has stopped performing daily checks on user's machine to track down pirated copies of Windows XP. Unwary Aussies were the first to experience the joys of the daily "boot check." According to reports, Microsoft claims the undisclosed daily check is a "safety measure designed to allow a tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to quickly shut down in case of a malfunction." (Arf, arf - that's funnier than their claim to the Dept. of Justice that they didn't know how to unbundle and build a modular Media Player - it had to be tightly coupled to Windows to work. Yeah, sure, Bill.)

WGA Validation is still in operation, although it only checks back periodically with the Microsoft mother ship. The issue here is really, once again, one of informed consent. Many people knew that MS would check up during updates and SW downloads, but very few (if any) were aware that it would be done daily.

More importantly, these updates are billed as "security patches" but class action lawyer Scott Kamber asks whose security is being protected. He claims it's fraud to tell people that they are downloading security patches when in fact MS is pushing self-serving piracy monitoring software through that pipeline as well.

He's filed a class action against Microsoft on behalf of millions of computer users, alleging the tool is spyware. He points to MS dropping the daily checks as a tacit admission of liability. All he has to do is get to a sympathetic jury that finds the on-line agreement people click on to get updates does not contain "a meeting of the minds" and it's coupons for everyone and a huge payday for Scott. In another words, if they find the contract benefits MS disproportionately compared to end users, the agreement becomes unenforceable.

He's apparently filed in sunny California -San Diego, to be exact, once again reinforcing my feeling that their consumer protection laws are pretty seriously pro-consumer and that California-based businesses need to be especially careful of how they treat their customers. Go get 'em, Scott!

It's not that I don't believe in the protection of IP, it's just that MS's weepy tears about the money it loses to piracy don't quite match up with its enormous profits made from monopolistic and predatory bundling practices. Their crocodile tears are betrayed by the fact that they are one of the

*world's* biggest and richest companies. Piracy must not be hurting them *that* badly. I'd venture a guess that it's actually been a factor in making them as successful as they are and now that they are a "standard" as a result, it's time to tighten the screws.

I'm not especially fond of them watching my computer for any hardware changes they don't like. I don't like their mendacity, either. "We don't track any personal information via our WGA or validation programs," they claim. That's nonsense, of course. If they are able to identify your IP address and your computer well enough to know if you've swapped out a NIC, they may not be DL'ing your Quicken data, but they sure as hell know who you are and from there, can track you all over the internet.

Big Brother is watching you.

-- Bobby G.