From hungary-online-owner Mon May 29 03:02:26 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id DAA09827 for hungary-online-out31415; Mon, 29 May 1995 03:02:26 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id DAA09818; Mon, 29 May 1995 03:02:15 -0700 Received: from bodoky@hubi.abc.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online@hungary.yak.net (9816) Received: from AGBICE.ABC.HU (agbice.abc.hu [192.146.134.1]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id DAA09813 for ; Mon, 29 May 1995 03:02:01 -0700 Received: from hubi.abc.hu by AGBICE.ABC.HU (MX V3.1) with SMTP; Mon, 29 May 1995 10:56:24 EDT Received: by hubi.abc.hu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA26065; Mon, 29 May 1995 12:07:11 --100 Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 12:03:06 +0200 (MET DST) From: Tamas Bodoky Subject: (HOL) Warning ! To: hungary online Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII content-length: 2871 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Hello HOLers, check this out ! Tamas +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ =========================================================== Microsoft officials confirm that beta versions of Windows 95 include a small viral routine called Registration Wizard. It interrogates every system on a network gathering intelligence on what software is being run on which machine. It then creates a complete listing of both Microsoft's and competitors' products by machine, which it reports to Microsoft when customers sign up for Microsoft's Network Services, due for launch later this year. "In Short" column, page 88, _Information Week_magazine, May 22, 1995 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- The implications of this action, and the attitude of Microsoft to plan such action, beggars the imagination. Chris Norloff ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- An update on this. A friend of mine got hold of a copy of the beta test CD of Win95, and set up a packet sniffer between his serial port and the modem. When you try out the free demo time on The Microsoft Network, it transmits your entire directory structure in background. This means that they have a list of every directory (and, potentially every file) on your machine. It would not be difficult to have something like a FileRequest from your system to theirs, without you knowing about it. This way they could get ahold of any juicy routines you've written yourself and claim them as their own if you don't have them copyrighted. Needless to say, I'm rather annoyed about this. So spread the word as far and wide as possible: Steer clear of Windows 95. There's nothing to say that this "feature" will be removed in the final release. Cheers David ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- This "Registation Wizard" was discussed in comp.unix.security (or was it here??) some weeks ago. Apparently it will collect the data, display it to the user and ask if it should be uploaded. The user then has the option of not uploading the data. This appears to be OK with me. I would assume that transfering such data without the users consent would be asking for trouble. I would be pretty mad :-) DISCLAIMER: I only have this info third hand, so it may be wrong. But it appears that Micro$oft are not quite as misbehaved as some would like to think. At least in this case.... :-) Jakob Schiotz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from Tamas Bodoky # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############