I wanted to let you know that a new blog post has been added:
http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/stealth-updates-deletions
With the full text at the bottom of this email. Feel free to blog, digg,
and slashdot it :-)
Thanks!
Joshua Gay
Stealth updates, deletions
Microsoft's Nate Clinton has used a bogus excuse to explain why Windows
Update installs stealth updates without the user's consent. He writes in
the Microsoft Update Product Team Blog
<http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/2007/09/13/how-windows-update-keeps-itself-up-to-date.aspx>:
One question we have been asked is why do we update the client code
for Windows Update automatically if the customer did not opt into
automatically installing updates without further notice? The answer
is simple: any user who chooses to use Windows Update either
expected updates to be installed or to at least be notified that
updates were available.
Well, if Microsoft understands that a person wants to decide to install
their own updates, then they should be respectful of that user's choice
and be consistent with their policy. Being consistent means that they
should tell the user that an update to Windows Update is available and
that if they want it to continue to work properly, that this update
should be installed. Maybe the user will decide to stop using Windows
Update altogether, or maybe they will install the update. Either way, it
should be the user that decides, not Microsoft.
However, this should come as no surprise. There is other evidence that
these types of policies apply to other pieces of Microsoft software as
well, including Windows Defender. In the End-User License Agreement for
Windows Vista it states that after searching your computer for software,
if Defender finds any "potentially unwanted software rated 'high' or
'severe,' [it] will automatically be removed after scanning unless you
change the default setting." Where "high" and "severe," are undefined
terms, and where the default behavior is to delete the software (instead
of just quarantining the software and asking the user if they want to
delete it). It gets worse. Later on in the same section they warn you
that Defender may remove or disable software that is "not potentially
unwanted software." In layman's terms, "not potentially unwanted
software," is also known as "your software."
At least Microsoft stays consistent with one policy: keep the user
confused and unclear on all policies.
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