Windows Update NOT Snooping

February 28, 2003 10:00 AM

Various online news outlets (like Slashdot and The Register) have been reporting that Windows Update is sending a list of all of your installed software to Microsoft. It all stemmed from a report at tecChannel where they sniffed the data that is sent to Microsoft when Windows Update is run. It's all very clever the way they went about it. But the truth of the matter is that what is ACTUALLY sent is the list of hardware and some other attributes of your system (which, to be fair, is more than used to be sent).

It is said in the tecChannel article is that the capability EXISTS for Microsoft to snoop on your software with Windows Update, but that they're not doing it. Of course, it's pretty obvious that the capability would exist as anything's possible with an ActiveX control. But that's a far cry from what's being reported, and what 10 minutes of actual reading rather than cut and pasting would have shown people.

Jack Mathews

From The Chatty

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EqualsP

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February 28, 2003 10:03 AM

and hence we have the conflict of trusting Microsoft while also not trusting Microsoft..