I'm no lawyer, but the 4th amendment only restricts what the government can do to you. It won't protect you from Microsoft. The 4th amendment has already been shredded pretty well anyway; look at the Patriot Act, illegal wiretapping, civil forfeiture of assets without trial, etc. "Due process" is steadily eroding away and has been for years.
My comment regarding the 4th Admendment did not pertain to it applicability to this issue, but the attitude that only criminals had anything to hide, as though privacy was a form of hiding, rather than a right.
As far whether it does cover MS or not, I only have one personal experience that is somewhat similar. Back several years ago, a Cox Cable rep came to my bedroom window late one night, shining a flashlight through the venetian blinds and rapping sharply on the glass. When I went to the back door, I was greeted by his entourage of 5 policemen, all demanding that I let them in to determine if I was stealing cable service.
Despite the fact that I never did so, and in fact had cut the connector and forced the cable through the hole in the floor, in which it entered by. I told them that while I could not stop them, that I would not give them permission to enter. This infuriated them, and I had to spend about 30 minutes listening to their threats and intimidation. They were smart enough not to force their way into my home, but dumb enough to give me a ticket for stealing cable. My lawyer quickly got the charge dismissed, but on the condition that I would not prosecute the police. I only agreed because my lawyer did this for me pro bono.
NO ONE, government or otherwise has the right to illegally enter anyone's home. You might say that MS doesn't need to enter a person's home to impliment this kind of spy system, but everything in my home is part of my home, and unless I permit them entry (or they have a search warrant), I have the right to protect my property, in whatever form it takes. If someone wants to call that criminal, then the only way that we can agree is to agree to disagree.
I installed it and had no problems at all. Rebooted even though it doesn't ask you too.
Using Windows Ultimate 7 here and Win 7 Pro on another computer.
Mine is calling a false positive. I wonder what I did that's causing it to do that. Yes, my copy is genuine, legal, real, physical.
Today when I started my laptop at college everything went fine, nothing came on saying that windows wasn't genuine, so I guess your copy just tends to get forgetful, Frostmourne?
Ahh no matter now ^_^ I clicked on the link MS gives you to resolve the problem, it installed some validation software stuff, and everything is fine and dandy now. Leaving the update uninstalled though, just incase; I don't want alerts popping up every second again.
I so agree with what Seekermeister is saying...one validation is enough...why do I need Microsoft checking up on me...sending back my software and usage, and god knows what else back to them. If my copy is legal today...why would it not be a month from now?? I did go ahead and install the update..just to avoid any issues, .but I dont like the idea.
If you really agreed with me, you wouldn't have installed it at all. Be that as it may, I guess the rationalization of this concept is that MS may not know of how their OS has been cracked today, so they want a perpetually swinging door, so that they can keep updating their methods. Even if one overlooks the privacy aspect for the moment, and just thinks about the implications of how likely that a future false positive which cripples your system, after having it installed for years, and not being able to find proof of the original purchase at that time. No way, no time, no where on my computer.
Updated my gaming system - all clear. Interesting that an OEM copy is fine and a retail copy has a fit.
I installed this update because I was a little concerned about my copy being genuine since I purchased from a third party....but to my relief, my copy is genuine. I then promptly uninstalled it...so now we will see if this causes me any problems. I know that at some point I will be forced to reinstall this update, but I guess there is not much I can do about it, but again...just hate the idea of having no control over what is installed and running on my pc..yes maybe we are just "renting" the software from microsoft..but they do not pay for my Internet access, or for my hardware.
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