Chinese Student Sues Microsoft
While most of the world associates China with being on planning & execution end of intellectual property theft and scams/viruses that attempt to steal private/sensitive personal data from infected machines, it seems that one university student is going to attempt to flip the tables on the American software giant Microsoft by accusing them of violating his privacy.
A court case filed by disgruntled OS purchaser, Lu Feng, describes Windows XP's gathering and transmission of personal data (along with relevant WGA/hardware data) to Microsoft as a breach of his privacy. Lu contends that by forcing users to accept the EULA (End User License Agreement) to finish installation whether the user actually agrees with the document or not, is also a violating of his rights and he has asked the court to annul the WGA installation agreement.
What does Microsoft have to say on the subject? Not much, as yet:
A spokesman with Microsoft China told Xinhua, "We have only just received this filing, have not had the opportunity to review it and therefore cannot comment on the specifics of the allegations.
"What we can say is that Microsoft is fully committed to letting customers control their personal information."
Is this simply a smokescreen to get people's attention away from recent allegations that the Chinese government was attempting to hack into the U.S. Department of Defense, or is this a genuine case that somehow came at an opportune time for the Chinese government to save face?
A court case filed by disgruntled OS purchaser, Lu Feng, describes Windows XP's gathering and transmission of personal data (along with relevant WGA/hardware data) to Microsoft as a breach of his privacy. Lu contends that by forcing users to accept the EULA (End User License Agreement) to finish installation whether the user actually agrees with the document or not, is also a violating of his rights and he has asked the court to annul the WGA installation agreement.
What does Microsoft have to say on the subject? Not much, as yet:
A spokesman with Microsoft China told Xinhua, "We have only just received this filing, have not had the opportunity to review it and therefore cannot comment on the specifics of the allegations.
"What we can say is that Microsoft is fully committed to letting customers control their personal information."
Is this simply a smokescreen to get people's attention away from recent allegations that the Chinese government was attempting to hack into the U.S. Department of Defense, or is this a genuine case that somehow came at an opportune time for the Chinese government to save face?
