Genuine Advantage is Microsoft spyware

From the current Windows Secrets newsletter, by Brian Livingston (scroll down a bit.) Emphasis added.

Windows Genuine Advantage — the controversial program Microsoft auto-installed as a "critical security update" on many PCs starting on Apr. 25 — not only causes problems for many users but has now been proven to send personally identifiable information back to Redmond every 24 hours.

This behavior clearly fits any plausible definition of "spyware." Some tech writers have said categorizing WGA as spyware is arguable. But I have no hesitation in calling the program a security nightmare that Microsoft should never have distributed in its present form.

What we've found about WGA fits neatly into four behaviors that are typical of all spyware:

1. Lack of disclosure before installation.
2. Transmits data to a central computer.
3. Downloads other software and morphs itself.
4. Cannot easily be uninstalled.

Read the whole article.