Old news, but every other time creepy to read...

Nothing that comes out of America is as good as it used to be.
Get Linux is free. Say goodbye to the Military Industrial Complex.

Nothing to fear....unless you are a kiddie predator, or just plain vanilla variety, or a thief who loves those cracked software programs, and the yummy free music tracks of the latest wacko artist and those hot movies.

Then again perhaps you had a flair for math at an early age, and discovered what you could do with a good algorithm's, a hex editor, C and some re-engineering software and decided that someones privacy and self respect was some liberal or Conservative plot to thwart your F...U mentality. So you wander at night poking your tool into anyones business you can crack for amusement, happy finger destruction, email confetti delivery, or those great "others" accounts or CC numbers. Besides you need a new an bigger HD...or that ultimate game machine.

Of course you could also be a plotting terrorist and you watched too many Pinky and the Brain cartoons, learned all his mistakes, and think you're smarter than a cartoon. Besides there is always someone nifty and current you can hate to justify your plot of taking over the world at any given time.

OK, so maybe your a good guy doll, and not into any of those fun things, but you're not real bright either, so you save your backups, and data on some server run by some company on the net so you don't lose all that precious material besides you have to trust someone else's mind sometime...don't you?? Your own is just not up to the task!!

9/11 and previous attacks elsewhere not on American soil changed the world, and most especially the world of the Internet and it's access. Pinky and the Brain became less of a cartoon, and more a reality, and there was a good reason Microsoft was not dismantled, and Vista was born (how long was it under developement..think back...think towers..) and that article only covers a small percent of what it's capable of. But your a good guy doll, and you play it straight, and have nothing to fear and 1984 was just a good read!! Oh...don't forget your tinfoil hat...I think the pyramid style is back in vogue.

"
Nothing to fear....unless you are a kiddie predator, or just plain vanilla variety, or a thief who loves those cracked software programs, and the yummy free music tracks of the latest wacko artist and those hot movies."

Lets take this one small step further.

Lets say that nice Wifi router next to you is broadcasting all that data about your use habits to the laptop in my car, and since it's got user info sitting around, I can do things after I've compromised your rather insecure machine like look at where you do your banking, what your IM app does, get credit card numbers...things that should've been deleted a long time ago.

Or better yet. Say you're engaged in an activity the government or a large business does not like such as funding and operating a local union or even better, organizing congressional testimony and getting bills introduced and passed. Hey, great! Microsoft gets a request for data under the patriot act and national security and nobody knows it was the CIA who stole your identity and ruined your life. Think it's conspiracy theory? It's fact and it's happened more than once.

I like, though, how you tie 9/11 into Microsoft peeking at your data. That's the king of the cake.

Let me put it this way. The average computer user doesn't read the EULA and is dumb. They are not informed. Microsoft knows this; they spend billions to know this. And they are taking advantage of it. Is it right? How many users would opt out of sharing info on their computing habits with microsoft?

From the sound of it you believe the same thing I do since you feel it so necessary to say we've got to give up our freedoms to a corporation, not even a governmental agency FFS, so you think most people would say No.

Galt,
Your comments are not only totally VALID (serious compliment to you), but out of admiration for mentioning "Pinky and the Brain" (who now seem to be operating out of the Oval Office), may I suggest further reading:
Not only are "Brave New World" and "1984" excellent primers on current globalization culture, but read Robert Heinlein's "Friday" (written in 1982) which describes life in a "technical society" where terrorists (and freedom fighters) use technology to do very nasty things while trying to stay invisible. Interesting violence and sex as well. (This IS a Heinlein book.)
Fortunately, the Islamist fanatics are not as bright as they could be otherwise the destruction to everyone would be even worse. (I taught Chemical-Biological-Radiological warfare in the Army Reserves in 1971 and I am thankful I am on OUR side.) Hopefully the "Islamo-Idiots" will stick with standard operating systems so that there is a chance of following the bread crumbs as opposed to Ubuntu or some of the other, more open systems.
It IS going to get interesting.
What I am looking forward to is someone realizing that (shade of 1984) the Saudis and Iranians really out-sourced their war with Iraq to the US, since shutting down the supply of Iraqi oil is good for their economies. What we need to do is to out-source it to a country with sufficient military, economic, engineering, credibility, and cultural resources to take over and end the War in Iraq for us.

And China needs the Iraqi oil and image as a world peacemaker even more than we do.

This crap is easily overcome:

Autopatcher Vista. All of the MS updates, and extra MS software, and none of the spying and crap associated with MS themselves.

Never rely on Microsoft for updates ever again. In fact, you can blackhole every single one of their IP addresses, and still use their so-called "features" in Vista. You can get an entire list of Microsoft address ranges to block from www.bluetack.co.uk. That is the site of Bluetack Internet Security Solutions, creators of Protowall and the Blocklist Manager. They also have an online converter, to convert the blocklist into compatible listings to integrate into IPTables, IPChains, Sygate Pro, Outpost Firewall, etc.

For Autopatcher Vista, visit: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/AutoPatcher-Vista.shtml

More info may be needed I think...

I use ZoneAlarm to control network access. By this means I can deny access to programmes that I don't know about or don't approve of. I did this with a lot of stuff in Vista and soon found that application programmes were being crippled if I denied access to the network.

Also, if I put a total block on the internet while I was away from the machine for a while I would return to find programmes like SeaMonkey (internet suite) could no longer access the network - nor anything else. In effect if I put a block on the internet Vista then applies it's own block and I have to reboot to get access back.

I want to use my computer as I want to use it: not as MS want to use it. If MS want to decide how I use my computer they can damned well pay for it.

Bert.

Talking of Pyramid Schemes and Nothing to fear...

How about National Security letters and reading the emails of non-US residents???

How about National Security letters and intercepting phishing website requests to track users movements???

How about sniffing of traffic of non-US businesses and governments?

How about sniffing Instant Messagers of non-US citizens?

I'm sure a lot of insight is gained into an untold amount of business deals that affect American interests thus fall under the catagory of National Security. I wonder what groups get access to this information???

Not to mention making use of information for political gain, smear campaigns and undermining opposition groups.

I'm sure Nixon is impressed.

Instead of a scary article on Big Brother. How about a way to overcome it, easily.

There's nothing devious about this.

Basically it's used to see what features or behaviours customers use the most and then allows Microsoft to redesign and/or ask questions on how to make it better.

It also allows Microsoft to see what features are never or almost never used, and then cut them out of the various products.

To "overcome" it, go through the various programs in Windows and uncheck the boxes for the various Customer Experience Improvements Program.

On Windows Media Player, click Cntl-T -> Options, click the Privacy tab and uncheck the box that says "I want to help make Microsoft software and services even better by sending Player usage data to Microsoft."

Office uses them, Messenger uses them, IE uses them, etc. You need to figure out how to turn it off in each of them.

Turning off all of the various customer experience improvement features is not "overcoming it easily", as those are not alone responsible for sharing information. And after all, the majority of users does not know about those features and how to turn them off. If they are for "Customer Experience Improvement" then a good way of improving my personal experience would be to have such features off by default in all components of Windows and on only by my sole consent while not impairing full experience of the product. But by the looks of it, they might as well have called it "Windows Patriot Act Edition".

Galt, you are hilarious.

I am going to strip naked and hold up a video camara over my head 24/7 so that you can verify that I never do anything illegal. I am a good citizen. What do I have to worry about out? I don't even have gonorrhea.

You are hilarious.

I plan to one day write a serious book on Microsoft's abuse of .... Yeah, and I want Microsoft to get an early glimpse.

You are hilarious.

As evidence by Vista itself and posters like yourself, Microsoft is paranoid. Very afraid that there is an alternative to their trash that is 100% the opposite of this trash.

As evidenced by
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070827111019189
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070829070630660

and many many many many more things, Microsoft belongs with Microsoft Vista over here
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FVbf9tOGwno

In the can!

Get a clue: linuxtoday.com

You are a funny man. Don't ever let anyone tell you are aren't.

Galt and hold2file make valid points...jose not so much.

I think it would be helpful to look at the European privacy model and realize that there are those that recognize and appreciate the importance of finding a BALANCE (did you hear me say BALANCE?) of personal privacy and public responsibility. These people not only recognize and appreciate that balance, but are willing to codify it into sensible and enforceable laws that actually have some teeth.

Wish I could say the same about the good ol' US of A, but that's not going to happen with the current scofflaws who run the Whitehouse and their flaccid and ineffectual counterparts in Congress (I'm referring to both parties I might add).

Until sensible men and women stand up in positions of leadership and work for change, we can only expect more infringement of personal information, the loss of millions of personal data records thru corporate neglect, and continued and unrestrained identity theft. It's sad that we have fallen so far from greatness...

Oh noes not my IP address. You make it sound like this is a doomsday scenario when it is not. Conanical has my IP address and software usage because I have downloaded packages from them.

Unix/Linux has always been the solution, and it will always be.
It's available everywhere, localized to any language. and becomming super easy to use day after day. Besides .. you don't like what you have , pitch in, and create your own version .. ain't that just awsome.
Human achievements should be shared, and all should benefit from. which is what is happening under the hood of linux.
Me , my family members, and almost all of my friends are using different distributions of linux and are very happy with it.

Thank you very much for the amazing article, it is more than valid to be kept as a reference.

One word. Linux. Any flavor one price: Free.
Secure, fast, and YOU control what data goes where.

During World War 2, the French telephone system kept non-expiring records, just like Microsoft and many business & governments do today. Then the Nazis invaded, seized the command & control of France, and looked up all those records. They discovered who was connected to who, rounded up all the "intellectuals", educators, and their contacts ... and shot them. Today, France no longer keeps non-expiring telephone records. Lesson, anyone?

this news is pure FUD

I suggest that everyone here think about the comment by Live-N-Learn above. It is extremely naive to believe that the collection of personal information poses no threat to you. But it looks like most people have been brainwashed to act like sheep, and it is important to keep them this way.

Anyone remember the Great Micro$0f+ Monopoly Trial?

John Dvorak wrote that "some people" thought that the whole trial was an attempt to get Micro$0f+ to 'share' their 'backdoor' keys w/ the feds.
When Micro#0f+ wouldn't, it was 'on w/ the trial!'
Showtrial, maybe. Did anything actually change?
Not so's you'd notice.
This ain't 'new' w/ Vista;
95, or 98, was reported to change some 20-30 odd files in the OS, just because a Word doc was edited.
Yeah, & 9x could 'call home' too! (Just not so many ways.)

The real 'threat' is that at some point in the future
(like when the balloon goes up, or the economy really tanks,
the 'flu' kills millions, or whatever starts it) THEN all that 'data' is gonna' come home to roost.

Then, when Micro$0f+ AND the guverment come looking for for all you "anti" types;
well, that's when the excrement will contact the atmospheric oscillator.
ciao, baby.

Yeah, best get a good firewall, set it too paranoid!
To fix the problem all together, get a MAC !
Or run Linux its free and its much better than Windows.
(I have used Windows for over 20 years)

I installed OSX on my PC 2 months ago, without changing anything else,

My machine ran twice as quick! I will never ever use a Windows machine again. If you don't agree it's simply because you are a Windows user and do not have the money to buy a Mac. If you want to install OSX on a PC, then you best be a Genius, otherwise your wasting your time.
Simon