!!! WARNING: M$ Stealing Your Personal Data via WMP 9 / Error Reporting !!!
From: osama bin kenobi (abuse@anarchy.gov)Date: 10/11/02
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From: osama bin kenobi <abuse@anarchy.gov> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 06:47:06 GMT
It just keeps getting better...Windoze Media Player 9 will report your
personal info to M$ even if you turn this option off in your
preferences in both WMP and XP. I witnessed this personally yesterday,
luckily my firewall (NOT Zone Alarm, which doesn't catch M$ spyware
.dlls!) managed to catch this devilish behaviour. For now, you can
avoid M$'s spying by blocking this server either through a firewall or
your hosts file:
watson.microsoft.com (207.68.166.243)
You may also want to block:
autoupdate.windowsmedia.com (207.46.131.71)
WMP 9 also phones home at every install.
This is a pretty bad breach of privacy, here's M$'s very own statement
about it:
http://watson.microsoft.com/dw/1033/dcp.asp
What we collect
The Digital Product ID, which can be used to identify your license.
Information regarding the condition of the machine and the application
at the time when the fault occurred. This includes data stored in
memory and stacks, information about files in the application's
directory, as well as the operating system version and the computer
hardware in use. This information is packaged into what we call a
“minidump.” (For a detailed description of the minidump, please see
the following section.)
Examples of information contained in these files that is used for
purposes of error analysis:
Product code of the package that failed
Product version of the package that failed
Information that identifies the point in setup where the error
occurred
They claim they don't use the following extra info which IS
transferred to their servers:
The log files may also contain other information that is not
specifically used to fix problems. This includes information entered
by the user during setup, such as the user and organization names.
Machine-specific technical data, such as the computer name, processor
type, RAM, and hard-disk space information, may also be included.
***All of this information is stored in the setup log files regardless
of whether you choose to report the error.***
Too bad you CAN'T choose to not report the error!
So basically, if you've ever had a crash, M$ has somewhere in their
possession a database of your name, address, computer hardware,
programs installed, what media files you have viewed, what IP address
you were connected to at the time of the error, etc.
No doubt such information is transferred during Windowsupdate updates
as well. Come on, where the hell is the DOJ on all this? AOL was
busted for this kind of behaviour, and M$ is getting away with it yet
again. No wonder the Chinese think M$ works for the FBI.
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