Microsoft Sued over Windows Genuine Advantage Software

According to electronista.com ,Microsoft this week was sued in Washington District Court for its Windows Geuine Advantage copy protection software. The class-action lawsuit is seeking 5 million dollars in damages for all Windows XP users in the United States.

The suit alledges that the Windows Genuine Advantage software was offered to users as a security update rather than an Anti-Counterfeiting software. WGA phones home to Microsoft daily with IP Address and other information on computer users to Microsoft. The Information WGa collects can be read here from Microsoft’s Offical site.

The complaint also cries foul of the difficulty in removing the WGA software from the computer in question if the user does not want it, and that in many cases requires a complete format and reinstall of the operating system to completely purge it.

Microsoft has ackowledged for quite awahile that WGA role is to flag copies of the software it feels are non-genuine, and to deny the user certain downloads from the Microsoft download center, and other optional updates via Windows Update/Microsoft Update.

Windows Genuine Advantage in the past has falsely flagged legitimate installs as being pirated software.

Microsoft has also released OGA(Office Genuine Advantage) to check installs of its Office Product as well. This will be an intresting story to keep an eye on.