Windows piracy hunt tool phones home if aborted

HAVING RUN SOME TESTS, hacks at German wire Heise revealed that Microsoft's updated Windows Genuine Advantage Notification phones home when the installation is aborted.

The user is not notified of the communication, but Microsoft claims it is useful for it to know when an installation is cancelled.

Using network sniffer Wireshark the hacks say they also detected the software logging those not signing up to Windows update.

It says data transmitted may contain enough information to identify individual computers

Microsoft told Heise it collected the data to improve the quality of the WGA for users. It was useful, the spokesman said to know if a user had cancelled setup.

The spokesVole said the user is not identified.

No explanation was forthcoming as to why the software does not tell the user what it is telling Microsoft, much less ask permission to do so. µ