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Microsoft Sued by a Beijing Student Over 'Privacy Violation'

Posted by Zonk on Thu Sep 13, 2007 04:25 PM
from the guy-thinks-highly-of-himself dept.
Microsoft Government Privacy The Courts News
freakxx writes "Xinhua report that a Beijing University student has sued Microsoft for allegedly gathering personal information via Windows Genuine Advantage. He has demanded a compensation of 1,350 RMB (around US$ 180) and an open apology printed in a national newspaper. The student has accused Microsoft of using WGA to gather information about his computer and himself, rather than solely checking whether or not the installed Windows XP system was genuine. A Microsoft spokesman has declined to speak on this issue and said that the matter is under investigation."
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Submission: Microsoft sued by a Beijing student on privary by freakxx (987620)
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  • Priceless (Score:5, Funny)

    by UbuntuDupe (970646) * on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:26PM (#20595231) Journal
    Copy of Windows in China: $10

    Settlement of legal dispute: $150

    Suing Microsoft for collecting your personal info when you live in the People's Republic of China: Priceless.

    There are some things you can blame on the government. For everything else, there's Microsoft.
    • /me watches as Mastercard sends a takedown notice to /. regarding the parent post ;)

      • Re:Priceless (Score:5, Funny)

        by davester666 (731373) on Thursday September 13 2007, @08:53PM (#20598197) Journal
        "A Microsoft spokesman has declined to speak on this issue and said that the matter is under investigation"

        In a press release, MS claims:

        We have NO idea what information is gathered as part of WGA. We promise to investigate what information is gathered, and then blame the collection of personal information on a rogue programmer who did it without the permission or knowledge of management. In the future, we promise to encrypt all the personal information we collect so you can't tell that we are doing this anymore.

        No more than 2 puppies were killed to produce this press release.
      • I would be careful about relying on the testimony of technicians. The United States was lulled into the first Gulf War partially on the testimony of a woman saying Iraqi troops were breaking into Kuwaiti hospitals and stomping infants in incubators to death. It later turned out the woman was a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, and made the whole thing up as part of a systematic Kuwaiti campaign to get America to attack their invaders.

        That's not to say the charges against China are without basis. I'm just advocating some skepticism about people who may have a grudge against China, or have a good reason to lie about torture back home (so they can get asylum and citizenship here in the United States).

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by ShakaUVM (157947)
          Huh, really?

          One of my roommates in college was a Palestinian guy who grew up in Kuwait. His family was in vacation (thank heavens) in America when Saddam invaded. They broke into his house, pissed on the carpet, stole his TV and anything else valuable, and lived in it for the duration of the occuptation. His family's bank accounts got frozen, which he never got back. Fortunately, his father was a big believer in cash when going on vacation and had two hundred thousand dollars *on hand* in LA, with which the

  • Self worth (Score:5, Funny)

    by athdemo (1153305) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:28PM (#20595263)
    $180? Where's the self-esteem, guy? They violated you!

  • If only... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Starteck81 (917280) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:28PM (#20595265)
    ...He could do the same to his own government.

  • Customers. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tackhead (54550) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:32PM (#20595321)
    > "What we can say is that Microsoft is fully committed to letting customers control their personal information."

    "Customers." They keep using that word. I do not think that word means what most of us think it means.

    OEMs are the customer. The end user who purchases a PC from an OEM and finds himself dependent on Microsoft is not the customer, he is the product.

    • Re:Customers. (Score:5, Funny)

      by fireboy1919 (257783) <rustyp@@@freeshell...org> on Thursday September 13 2007, @06:24PM (#20596761) Homepage Journal
      Customer:
      1) Person who potentially buys things. The one they buy from is known as a vendor.
      2) (Microsoft dfn). Ugly bags of mostly water+some money. The idea is to get the money out of the bags and then be able to keep it. For some reason, the bags sort of hold on to it when it's being taken.
    • "Customers." They keep using that word. I do not think that word means what most of us think it means.

      OEMs are the customer. The end user who purchases a PC from an OEM and finds himself dependent on Microsoft is not the customer, he is the product.

      Oh, really. I really don't like when a Slashdotter pulls a one-bit logic on a painful issue.

      How about a more realistic look: OEMs are the customer who buys the Windows licenses. And end-users are the customers of the hardware vendors who preinstall Windows on the

      • Re:Customers. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2007, @07:09PM (#20597245)
        > How about a more realistic look: OEMs are the customer who buys the Windows licenses. And end-users are the customers of the hardware vendors who preinstall Windows on their machines to make them usable for the masses.

        The problem with Microsoft is they're no longer working this way. Their business model is much more like that of RIAA/MPAA.

        The guy watching Battlestar Galactica isn't the customer of the Sci-Fi Channel. He's the product. Sci-Fi's customer is the advertiser, who purchases the product (us). BSG is merely the means by which Sci-Fi delivers the product (us) to the customer (advertiser).

        Similarly, Microsoft's installed base is the product. OEMs are the customer, users are the product, and the operating system is the means by which Dell gets to monetize its investment in Microsoft OEM licenses.

  • solidarity begins at home. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by porky_pig_jr (129948) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:35PM (#20595361)
    to those living in United States. before you start making fun of China, think of the situation with privacy in your homeland. Love, PPJ.
    • bad

      getting worse

      still a couple of orders of magnitude better than it is in china

      this stunt is more of a nationalistic chest thumping exercise. were microsoft a chinese company and this guy had done what he did, he would be ignored, reprimanded, harasssed, or arrested. but being an american company, the authorities probably approve of it

      and who said i found the situaiton in china, or the usa, funny?
      • Yes, to think freely and even to post freely on Internet. Let us all make sure that won't disappear one day.

      • Re:solidarity begins at home. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Foobar of Borg (690622) on Thursday September 13 2007, @05:01PM (#20595757)

        At least I, as an American, am allowed to think of such things.
        So are the Chinese. The problem is, how much are you practically able to express these things publicly? Recent events have shown that to be rapidly eroding in America.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by E++99 (880734)

          The problem is, how much are you practically able to express these things publicly? Recent events have shown that to be rapidly eroding in America.

          Such as what? What are you not able to express publicly in America?

          A guarantee you that somewhere in America right now someone is standing on some street corner with a megaphone (covered in and-written cardboard signs probably) shouting that Bush did 9/11, that he's a war criminal, and should be tried and found guilty of treason. And if the police are doing any

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by tftp (111690)
            And if the police are doing anything, they're protecting him from the more sensible people who would like to smack him around.

            Keep dreaming [yahoo.com] ...

  • I'd imagine MS has a tough decision to make... just pay up as going to court would be a lot more expensive (but perhaps set a precedent allowing others to sue them or threaten suit), or go to court and spend a lot more to hopefully prevent a precedent (assuming the guy wins).

  • Why Doesn't Someone Do It In the U.S.? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by asphaltjesus (978804) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:43PM (#20595489)
    WGA works the same here as it does in China. The notion that they collect "no personal information" is very clever, but untrue.

    Microsoft can easily associate your pc with a record in their backend because each pc generates a unique signature. They don't have your name at the moment, but that doesn't mean they don't know who's using their OS when and where. Given the number of times a windows box phones home when it goes online, I'd say there's plenty they know about you.

    This is exactly like the story some months ago where AOL gave out search data that was supposedly private. Same situation, bigger fish.

    BTW, if you are still married to a microsoft OS, your software firewall should be good enough to alert you when it attempts these connections. My Kerio firewall at work does it. And marriage is the right word for it because sometimes you wonder what the hell you got yourself into.

    • Can not mix person and non-personal info ... (Score:4, Informative)

      by AHumbleOpinion (546848) on Thursday September 13 2007, @05:17PM (#20595943) Homepage
      The notion that they collect "no personal information" is very clever, but untrue. Microsoft can easily associate your pc with a record in their backend because each pc generates a unique signature.

      I have some experience in this area. According to our attorneys, but being informally paraphrased by myself, it was important to never mix personally identifiable information (PII) and non-personal information. Any mixing or linking would cause the non-personal to become PII and therefore under the jurisdiction of US and international legislation, with more legislation on the way given the new found importance of this topic. So to make life simple, I may collect the operating system version for demographic reasons but I can not record an account name, IP number, or other PII with that information, nor could I have some common key to associate records in PII and non-personal databases.

  • We're doomed (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tablizer (95088) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:58PM (#20595719) Homepage Journal
    They are gaining in space, have cheaper manufacturing, out-hacked us (pentagon penetration last week), and finally they are taking our last remaining comparative advantage away: law-suits.
         

  • Probably the most important lawsuit this year (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SpeedDevil (1103763) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:58PM (#20595721)
    I truly hope he wins. And I am glad that he is not asking for much. I'm pretty sure Microsoft will try to settle out of court but I am also pretty sure this guy is not really doing this for the money. The Chinese government has been trying to reinforce the people's trust in their legal system so I don't think they will just push the case aside, especially after it being covered on Slashdot. I really hope this case gets the attention it needs because this case could be the answer to protecting the privacy of all of us. Setting the precedent in China will make way for more precedents elsewhere. Lu Feng ... we are with you!!! K PS: I'm pretty sure somebody in Microsoft is going nuts right now ... hehe

  • Why so stingy (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nonillion (266505) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:59PM (#20595731)
    Dude, it's Microsoft. You need to move that decimal place at least six more places to the right.

    • Re:Why so stingy (Score:4, Funny)

      by belmolis (702863) <billposer@alum.mit . e du> on Thursday September 13 2007, @05:05PM (#20595779) Homepage

      You need to move that decimal place at least six more places to the right.

      Not a problem. If he wins, millions of other Chinese will follow suit. I don't think that China has class actions, so Microsoft will have the fun and expense of defending each suit separately if they don't settle.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by zen-theorist (930637)
      i'd say its a bit of a gamble. maybe if MS fess up to this one and pay it instead of contesting (why not?) it could set legal precedent, and then the amounts could be much higher..
  • Yup, once the Chinese legal system settles in this guys favor, the Chinese government will no doubt use a ruse such as this to ban WGA checks within their borders. For Privacy... Yeah. Not to get free access to all those patches on Windows Update without the check... Oh no, they would never do that... :)

  • I'm from China so lemme have some say ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gzipped_tar (1151931) on Friday September 14 2007, @06:51AM (#20601493) Journal
    I'm from Beijing. I understand the situation Mr. Lu Feng is faced with: a monopoly power M$, a considerably corrupted legal system, and the suspected alliance of the two. In Chinese gov't (and persumably court) offices they run the M$ Windiz + Office. M$ is an 'official' choice. If Lu wins, an implication would be that M$ not only voilates out privacy & property rights, but also severely threatens the public security of the country. However the gov't are not fools, neither are M$ men. Gov't clearly knows what M$ is always doing to its costumers. Ergo, PRC Gov't --- M$ is not the same as you --- your software producer. That's why I suspect the two are in alliance with each other --- alliance based on the crime of betrayal and spying. The county is doomed. The PRC collapses and you Amiricans are happy... However that's only some hot air. In reality the lawsuit probably would end in a reconcilation with M$ paying a sum of $ to Lu for his silence. That would be the easiest way for both the court and M$. Even if Lu wins, only a few could benefit from the case --- Lu himself and those private users of authenticated Windiz. The Mass use pirate copies, remember! In my university (Beijing Normal Univ.) there are about 2000 university-owned boxes running pirate Windiz and PowerPoint things, from the library to every classroom ( why do they think every classroom needs a computer??) --- mass violation of the law!! Perhaps the media coverage of this case would encourage more Chinese switching to Linux / (GNU/Linux). Just a wish. Personally, I don't care about it. I'm using Fedora GNU/Linux, remaining quiet over the matter, and I'll be relatively safe. One thing interesting: you guys at /. are much more active on the topic than native Chinese men. You know M$ is just M$. But for many Chinese, M$ means either a large, shadowing power who can sue you against using pirate copies of its products at any time it wishes, or the only OS/office/othersillystuff solution. They don't even know Linux or /. exists.

    • Re:I'd rather Microsoft have my info (Score:5, Insightful)

      by vux984 (928602) on Thursday September 13 2007, @04:38PM (#20595409)
      I'd rather Microsoft have my personal info than the government. Any government.

      If Microsoft had it they'd just sell it to the governent. Any government.

    • You trust Microsoft, but not /.? Coward!
    • I'd rather Microsoft have my personal info than the government. Any government.

      You are assuming they are mutually exclusive...
                   

    • I'd rather Microsoft have my personal info than the government. Any government.

      How do you know Microsoft won't give the government your info? Wasn't MS one of those cited for giving the Chinese government data on people? Wasn't MS cited for sharing data with the US government, along with Yahoo while Google refused?

      Falcon

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jandersen (462034)
      Yes, because as we all know, private companies are accountable to The People, whereas governments are only accountable to their shareholders.

      Come on, do you really think that a private company like Microsoft will hesitate as much as one second abusing the information they hold about you if it could earn them money? At least a government - any government - is ultimately accountable by the people. Even the Chinese government has to take the population into account when they make their decisions if they don't

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by cromar (1103585)
      Same could be said about us USians.

    • He can not possibly claim that his privacy has been violated in any way which is meaningful in China.
      Or, you could look at it this way: A guy in China is claiming that his privacy has been violated by Microsoft. It sounds much more severe that way, doesn't it?
    • Spread by the Chinese. I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but this is just the Chinese government trying to make Microsoft look bad as a bargaining tactic.

      Perhaps ... but then again, to be completely fair, you really don't have to work that hard to make Microsoft look bad.

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