Microsoft's New Phone Home Anti-Piracy Practice Unacceptable, Says Critic

On Thursday, Microsoft announced the WAT update would identify pirated copies of Windows 7 that had been illegally activated using any of more than
70 cracks,or activation exploits. After users install the update, the WAT software will regularly connect with Microsoft's servers -- the phone home
functionality that Weinstein called out -- to download new crack signatures, which would then be used to reevaluate the copy of Windows 7.

The repeated validation is new to Windows, confirmed Joe Williams, the general manager of Microsoft's Genuine Windows group, who said that neither Windows
XP or Vista had reevaluated already-activated Windows PCs on a regular schedule. Machines that had had significant hardware component replacements were
the exception: Swapping out a motherboard, for instance, would typically trigger another activation validation.

Weinstein countered that Microsoft was overstepping its bounds by demanding validations in perpetuity. "Say you've used your system for a year. Is it reasonable
for Microsoft to say, 'We changed our mind and now you're not genuine'?" asked Weinstein in an interview today. "It's one thing to validate when you originally
get the system, but to do that months or years later, and for Microsoft to say, 'Now we're going to say your Windows is not genuine,' ...it becomes a matter
of ownership. At what point is one free of this constant checking?"

He recommended that users reject the download of the WAT update. To do that, users may have to reset Windows Update so that it does not automatically
download and install every update.

Microsoft's Williams suggested the same if users don't want Microsoft re-validating Windows. "We're pretty insistent that this is a voluntary update," he said
. "And any customers who don't want WAT can uninstall the update after it's installed." The uninstall option is new for Microsoft's anti-piracy software; in the
past, once installed, it could not be removed.

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