Wren wrote: My updates are set to prompt also...some things I don't need. MS can phone home all they want, I'm legal and it's not something for me to fret over.
Microsoft Hit With Second Lawsuit Over WGA
Class-action suit filed in Seattle alleges Windows Genuine Advantage is spyware.
Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Microsoft has been hit with a second lawsuit over Windows Genuine Advantage, its antipiracy program that checks if the Windows operating system on a machine has a valid license.
The class-action suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, just four days after the first one. The new suit lists its plaintiff as Engineered Process Controls and Univex, along with citizens Edward Misfud, David DiDomizio, and Martin Sifuentes, who are listed as owners of licensed copies of Windows XP running WGA.
Microsoft Accused of Misleading Customers
The suit alleges WGA is spyware and that Microsoft mislead consumers by labeling it as a critical security update. The plaintiffs maintain Microsoft did not make users aware that WGA frequently contacted its central servers.
"WGA gathers data that can easily identify individual PCs, and WGA can be modified remotely to collect additional information at Microsoft's initiation," according to the filing.
WGA collects a computer's IP address, BIOS data, system version and local language and settings information, the suit says.
Company Tries to Placate Users
Microsoft acknowledges WGA collects hardware and software data but maintains it is only used to verify that only one copy of an OS has been registered on one computer. If Microsoft finds a discrepancy, WGA can notify users their OS may be unlicensed through pop-up warnings.
Users have complained WGA is flawed, identifying legitimate copies of an OS as fraudulent. Microsoft blocks the download of some programs but allows security patches if an OS is judged to be invalid.
Last week, Microsoft changed some features of WGA, including adding an option that let users turn off warnings that their OS may be invalid and the frequency with which WGA communicated with its servers.
The suit asks for compensation and for Microsoft to warn users of the risks of WGA and produce a tool to remove it.
The tool in the previous post will tell you if this is on your system--at least find out if it is. 
Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4418, old post ID:35565
