Microsoft accused ...

An angry Chinese lawyer accused Microsoft of perpetrating the biggest ever hacker attack in response to the software giant's controversial move to trigger hourly screen blackouts on computers using pirated copies of Windows XP.

By Ma Yujia, Pang Li & Keen Zhang
http://www.china.org.cn/china/national/2008-10/21/content_16646396.htm
An angry Chinese lawyer accused Microsoft of perpetrating the biggest ever hacker attack in response to the software giant's controversial move to trigger hourly screen blackouts on computers using pirated copies of Windows XP.
On October 20, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer of Beijing Zhongyin Law Office, sent a complaint to China's Ministry of Public Security, accusing Microsoft of invading personal computers without user permission or judicial authorization, the Beijing Times reported.
Dong said the judiciary should assign criminal responsibility for the Windows Genuine Advantage Program so called "Black Screen" scheme and halt this "illegal move".
To fight software piracy Microsoft announced on October 15 that, starting October 21, Microsoft anti-piracy software would be automatically installed on users' computers through the routine Internet-based update mechanism. If a computer fails a validation test, the desktop will change to a plain black background when the computer is restarted.
Users will be able to reset the black background to any wallpaper or another background color, but every 60 minutes the desktop will revert to black until a genuine copy of Windows is installed. Microsoft's plan has aroused huge controversy in China. According to a poll on Chinese portal QQ.com, out of 574,923 participants, 73.33 percent said they were using pirate versions of XP, 51.58 percent said they intend to continue using pirate versions, and 32.87 percent said they will ignore Microsoft's "black screen" campaign. Only 15.55 percent said they intend to buy an authorized version. 77.23 percent said they oppose Microsoft's action.
Microsoft's anti-piracy campaign is also targeted at pirated versions of Office software, which includes the popular Word, Excel and Powerpoint applications.
Microsoft said their action was not particularly targeted at Chinese users and that it planned to extend the verification system to all Windows XP and Office users within two months. Microsoft also said that the "black screen" is just a "notification of piracy" and will not actually affect the normal operation of the computer. "And even if your XP or Office is pirated, we will not collect any information from you, so let's hear less of the charge of ' infringing privacy '."

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