Edbot: Unauth. look at MS Activation Technology

Last month, Microsoft rolled out an update to its Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) platform in Windows 7. Everything you’ve read about KB971033 so far, including my report last week, has been based on what Microsoft said it was going to do; in my earlier coverage, I gathered information from blog posts, published privacy policies, a Knowledge Base article, and some one-on-one interviews. But can you really believe everything Microsoft tells you about its new Windows Activation Technologies update?
Now that the update has been publicly available for a few weeks, I’ve been able to dig into it and determine exactly what it does. You don’t have to take my word for it, either. You can download the same tools I used and check for yourself. (And don’t miss my post from yesterday, Confessions of a Windows 7 pirate, which takes a similarly detailed look at the pirates’ toolkit for cracking Windows activation.)

Windows Activation Technologies: an unauthorized inside look | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com#

The comments are as interesting as the article, which is one of the best ever.

Ed has really taken tech reporting to a new level here.

I read nothing in the article that changed my view of this one bit. Most everything the author said was qualified with terms such as seemed, appeared, etc. Even if he could have fully accessed all functions and data that is involved, that would not mean that it would stay the same in the future. It merely creates a foundation for the possibility of greater invasion of privacy being added.

Here is one thing that I have avoided since buying my first computer:

A unique number assigned to your computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID)

I would not buy an Intel processor when they had this ability, even when it was able to be switched off, because there was also the possibility of remotely turning it on. Even Windows Media Player has this ability, which at one time had to be manually disabled. Even though that has been reversed, I still don't use WMP.

The only thing that caught my eye in the article was that apparently the checking interval in the Task Scheduler can be changed to one year, instead of 90 days, but that is still too often.

logicearth said:

seekermeister said:

Here is one thing that I have avoided since buying my first computer:

A unique number assigned to your computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID)

A GUID that is refereed to cannot be traced back to you or to anyone. GUIDs are actually very important. You may not know this, but ever object in Windows has a GUID. HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID has pretty much ever GUID of every object in Windows.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but any GUID assigned to the various objects in Windows, does not identify the computer...yes/no? The GUID in question does. Despite what you say about it being untraceable, I don't accept that. If an IP (which can be changed) can be traced to the owner, I don't see it taking much of a change in methodology to trace this GUID which can't be changed. It remind me of the term "branded", a lifetime mark that can't be removed, although some cattle rustlers do rebrand cattle.

It is obvious that you feel that this is acceptable, but it should be equally obvious that I do not.

logicearth said:

The GUID is generated randomly along with the Product ID whenever you activate a copy of Windows. An IP is only traceable to the ISP and only the ISP knows how is using which IP at which time. The GUID in question is a random string of characters that changes everytime you install or activate a copy of Windows.

The fact that an IP is only traceable to the ISP, does not mean that the user can't be traced, via court order, but with the recent statements coming from MS, I would not be surprised if they got the law changed that would eliminate the need for a court order. In the case of this GUID, they don't need a court order in the first place.

I find it acceptable because I'm not paranoid. If I had such deep concerns about my privacy I would not be on the Internet. I would seal my house with foil and never leave my steel coffin.

A very denigrating response to color anyone that doesn't see things as you do as being mentally unstable.

Paranoia is a thought process heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. In the original Greek, παράνοια (paranoia) simply means madness (para = outside; nous = mind). Historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state.

Perhaps you referenced the word here:

Paranoia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Are you suggesting that any form of fear for any reason is insane? If so, there really isn't any reason to continue this exchange.

logicearth said:

seekermeister said:

A very denigrating response to color anyone that doesn't see things as you do as being mentally unstable....

If you believe yourself to be or not be paranoid, is your own business. If my statements offend you, well I'm sorry but I speak my mind without fluffy kitties and rainbows. As far as I am concerned, getting into a fit over a GUID is classic paranoia.

Privacy does not exist. Every web site you visit leaks information about you. Heck, Google has more information about you then anyone. But a random GUID has you concerned?

Is that a basis for making it even easier for them to dig deeper? As I said, this conversation is not going to serve anyone's interests or concerns in the subject, so since it is apparent that you feel compelled to rebuff my posts in the manner that you have, I shall discontinue responding to your posts in this thread unilaterally. Perhaps someone else will offer something more useful.

IMO MS is remarkably restrained in pursuiing piracy. They have as much right to prosecute the theft of their software as Best Buy does a shoplifter, but instead they negotiate with privacy groups to the point that they are awarded a prize for privacy rights by the E.U.!

I see my own country and the world going down to corporate hegemony yet I find it hard to get exercised about a corporation which is wiring schools in Africa, spending its early billions fighting AIDS worldwide, spending a fortune just to build drivers for Win7 so that manufacturer's couldn't hold out and force us to buy newer hardware (MS paid their frickin bills) like they did with Vista.

Feel free to call me a fanboy. I think they've earned it, and I'm proud to be associated with the testing and deployment of the best OS ever from one corporation which has earned my respect.