[Dalponis]

A major concern with the new Windows Genuine Advantage tool, designed to limit piracy, is that the application phones home daily via your internet connection, reports the Associated Press. Finally confirming the previously undisclosed activity, Microsoft says the the daily report was implemented as "a safety measure designed to allow the tool - to quickly shut down in case of a malfunction."

Read the full story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060607/ap_on_...DJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

[Dalponis]

A Microsoft representative said that when the WGA Notifications checks in with Microsoft when a PC is booted, it is not providing any information to the vendor if a PC's copy of Windows has already been validated. Instead, it is checking with a "server-side configuration setting to determine if WGA should run or not." The check-in also gives Microsoft the ability to disable the WGA program, if necessary.

Read the full story here:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/08/...nopiracy_1.html

[Dalponis]

A private security company has found a way to stop the controversial callback component in Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool. Firewall Leak Tester, a company that provides tools to test the quality of personal firewall software, has released a utility called RemoveWGA that blocks Microsoft from "phoning home" from Windows PCs on a daily basis.

"Once the WGA Notification tool has checked your OS and has confirmed you had a legit copy, there is no decent point or reason to check it again and again every boot," the company said in a note explaining its motive for releasing the tool. The WGA tool, which is a mandatory part of the Redmond, Wash., software maker's battle to curb Windows piracy, includes two separate components: WGA validation and WGA notifications. Validation determines whether the copy of Windows installed is pirated or not, and Notifications is set up to nag users whom Microsoft believes are not running "genuine Windows" and "suggest" where they can "learn more about the benefits of using genuine Windows software."

Read the full story here:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1979756,00.asp