Microsoft in legal trouble over Windows Genuine Advantage
Straight from Ars Technica: “In the good old days of 2001, Microsoft started an aggressive anti-piracy initiative that is still alive today. Called “Windows Product Activation,” Microsoft’s early iterations attempted to verify copies of Windows online, going so far as to scan system components in an effort to individually identify machines. Some five years later Microsoft is still trying to keep an eye on piracy online, but they’re going about it in a way that angers many.Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson has field suit against Microsoft in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, charging the company with failing to disclose the true nature of a similar anti-piracy tool that Microsoft has distributed. The tool in question is the now-notorious “Windows Genuine Advantage”—an descendant of sorts from the old WPA approach. Johnson’s complaint centers around the fact that previous versions of WGA constantly “called home” to Microsoft, which in his view constitutes a a violation of anti-spyware laws in both California and Washington State. Johnson’s suit seeks class-action status for the complaint, and it is being fronted by Scott Kamber of Kamber & Associates LLC in New York. Kamber recently served as plaintiff’s counsel in the rootkit fiasco centering on Sony.”
