[LINK] Vista - the data gatherer

[Karl Auer]

On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 20:03 +1000, Scott Howard wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 08, 2007 at 06:56:38PM +1000, Karl Auer wrote:
> > And one other thing - which of these flows are actually beneficial to
> > the user? I don't mean the soft-soap BS like "help us make a better
> > product", I mean actual, real benefits.
> > 
> > My guess is: None.
> 
> My guess would be that you haven't even looked at the list, correct?

Wrong.

> To pick one of the more obvious example, the "Plug and Play" system
> certainly does add value to users

OK, lets look at that one.

"PnP-X enabled devices may advertise their presence on the subnet by
broadcasting data, such as the device's IP address and a unique
identifier, over the subnet. Be aware that PnP-X supports a wide range
of devices, including network drives and devices (such as digital
cameras) that could contain personal information."

And:

"When you install a PnP-X enabled device, the information that is sent
to the online Windows Update service is used to download and install the
appropriate device drivers. Information sent over the subnet is used to
identify the device and **enable access to the features offered by the
device.**" [my emphasis]

And:

"There is **no facility for disabling PnP-X or for controlling which
information is sent by a PnP-X enabled device** once it is accessed
across a network." [my emphasis]

Now I'm not blaming MS for (all) this, because I don't know who invented
this turkey, and maybe I need to know more about it, but at first blush
it looks like a security cock-up of the first water. And at least as far
as it pertains to Windows Vista, why can only admins stop access to
Windows Update, why is there no control over what is sent, and why the
expletive deleted can't the whole feature be turned off? Elsewhere they
say "don't use this stuff except on a secure network"!

> As far as "help us make a better product", this type of information does
> benefit the user community - as a whole at least.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one; unless we can perhaps agree
that it depends a very great deal on the company involved.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)