SEATTLE, WA — Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft this week, charging that the company violated spyware laws with its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) anti-piracy system.Filed June 26th in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Johnson’s suit alleges that Microsoft failed to properly disclose the details of WGA when the technology was updated in April of this year.
WGA, designed to curb widespread pirating of the Windows operating system, was first introduced in 2004. Johnson’s lawsuit alleges that WGA became the equivalent of spyware when it added a feature wherein the system made contact with Microsoft’s servers on a daily basis to help the company spot users who might be using pirated copies of the Windows OS.
The April update of WGA contained two components, “WGA Validation” and “WGA Notifications.” The WGA “validation” was designed to determine whether a given copy of Windows is pirated or not and alert users that the company believes are running an illegal copy of the software. The notification component of WGA is where the controversy began; the system was found to be contacting Microsoft’s servers daily, creating concern that the feature could be used by the software company to monitor its customers or invade their privacy.
The day after Johnson filed suit, Microsoft agreed to alter the WGA Notification component, and announced an updated version of the tool would be delivered to Windows XP users via automatic updates, with the daily configuration file check removed from the updated WGA Notifications package
“These allegations are without merit, and this distorts the real objectives of the program and obscures the real issue, which is the harm to consumers posed by software piracy,” said Microsoft spokesperson Jim Desler, according to eWEEK. “As with all of our programs we’ve gotten constructive customer feedback, the program has evolved and we’ve made improvements. Microsoft continues its efforts to foster better communications with its customers.”
Scott Kamber, Johnson’s attorney, said his client wants to ensure that Microsoft is forced to improve its disclosure policies and practices and did not bring the lawsuit for money or notoriety. Kamber also said the lawsuit is not trying to link WGA to more damaging forms of spyware, rather they are just trying to get Microsoft to provide more detail in product updates.
“Our client was concerned that what was being installed as part of a security update was actually something for piracy protection,” said Kamber. “We have no issue with Microsoft’s ability to protect its intellectual property, but if that involves installing software on a user’s computer, it must be done with full disclosure.”
“We think that the validity of the claim has already been proven with Microsoft’s decision to release an update,” added Kamber.
Kamber, who was also involved in a lawsuit brought against Sony for its clandestine use of rootkit technology, said that customers have a right to be fully informed of product details and must be given the opportunity to opt out of any features they don’t wish to install on their systems.
“Our greatest concern is that this could have a chilling effect on people’s willingness to install security updates,” said Kamber. “This country’s computing base could be impacted heavily by something like that, which could eventually put people at greater risk; passing WGA off as a security update is a major violation of end users’ trust in Microsoft.”
