Microsoft is spying on you.

[PKRWUD]

Being a Mac guy, I found this unbelievable, but maybe you Windows people are okay with it. This is from an article in yesterdays paper:

Microsoft Secretly Collected User Data

By D. Ian Hopper
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Microsoft's new version of it's popular Media Player software is logging the songs and movies that customers play.

The company said Wednesday it was changing it's privacy statement to notify customers about the technology after inquiries from the Associated Press.

The system creates a list on each computer that could be a treasure for marketing companies, lawyers and others. Microsoft says it has no plans to sell the data collected by Media Player 8, which comes free with the Windows XP operating system.

The new privacy policy was issued Wednesday.

The media player has been bundled as a free addition to Windows for several years and allows users to play music CD's, DVD movies and digitally stored songs on their computers.

When a CD is played, the player downloads the disc name and titles from a website licensed by Microsoft. That information is stored on a small file on each computer in the latest version of the software.

The new version released with Windows XP last fall also added the same technology for DVD movies.

Microsoft's original privacy statement informed customers that they were downloading the information about CD's, but never stated it was being stored in a log file on each computer.

The new statement makes clear that information is being downloaded for both DVD's and CD's, but does not explain how users can eliminate or get into the log file.

There is no easy way to clear out the log, Microsoft said, without crippling Media Player. The only way to keep Media Player from going to the Microsoft web site is to make the player think it is working without an internet connection, which can be tedious if the user switches between watching DVD's and listening to internet radio stations.

As part of downloading the information about songs and movies from the web site, the program also transmits an identifier number unique to each user on the computer. That creates the possibility that user habits could be tracked and sold for marketing purposes

I am just blown away by that. Every single one of you guys that is using Windows XP is being tracked by Microsoft. They know what you do, where you go, what you watch and what you listen to. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Yeah, that's one killer operating system.

Take care,
-Chris