Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Earlie who wrote (51369)	3/11/1999 12:16:00 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Earlie, You haven't even mentioned the latest Microsoft gaffe that has privacy advocates up in arms. Turns out that Windows 98 assigns every machine a Global Universal Identifier (based on your NIC IP address and your copy of Windows 98). This GUI is sent to Microsoft when you register Windows 98. (And no, they never ask permission of the user.) Furthermore, the GUI is tattooed into every Microsoft Office document. This is much worse than Intel's misdeeds -- they only associate a chip with an IP address. This associates the box, and most of the user-created files on the box, with a person. This story just broke (the Boston Globe ran a big story on it yesterday, since a local computer guru discovered this "feature") but I think it has legs.