Microsoft Error Reporting: Spying?

do any of you think that the error reporting feature of xp is being used to spy on users?

sarcasim=1

Paranoia on your part i think.

Never know though,Heck...maybe when you send a report it kicks on your web cam and takes a mugshot....

Something to ponder?

sarcasim=0

Full trust....

Why.... Even Microsoft is smart enough to know that some kiddie is going to packet sniff it and find out what is being sent..... if it's bad they will publish it for all to see..... Microsoft is well aware that bad publicity has a detrimental effect on their bottom line.... that affects Bill's pocketbook..... so it ain't gonna happen....

I know it is not being used to spy on users, as a fact basis too. Here is how you can find out:

1. Install a decent Windows packet sniffer, such as ethereal or tcpdump for windows.
2. Start the sniffer
3. Cause a reproducable bug which begins a windows report.
4. After the report is sent, review the data.


You will notice some reports require more system information than others, sometimes as Windows serial key to verify it isn't conflicting with Windows Update checks. However, you have to keep in mind that not only is this feature able to be turned off for paranoid users, but you need to see it from a coders point of view.

A bug happens, and the more information you get about the OS enviroment and the running programs (etc) the better you can pinpoint what is causing that bug in the larger scheme of things. Do I think they are sending off unneeded data? According to what I saw when I used to use windows, I do not think so. Do I trust them fully? No, I do not trust any company fully. Redhat, Microsoft, McDonalds. All are here to make money and thus it is merely understandable that because they are a buisness and not a volunteer group, they will continue to do things to make money.

On this aspect, we are fine :) Of course, if you are using legal and registered copy of windows and not using peer to peer sharing programs to download illegal files, you really don't have anything to worry about anyways.

ok thats a good piont


what kind of things are sent

Try it out and see :) Not only will you learn how to packet sniff, but you will be able to get hands on experience for the future discussion of this with others.

http://www.ethereal.com/

how deos sniffing work and what are good sniffers

Pooh answered part of the question, Ethereal or TCPDump, (Google either, they are right at the top of the list).

How does it work.....

OK.... Your network card, (NIC), has a MAC address (Media Access Control). They are supposed to be unique for every network device ever made, (they aren't sometimes but that is another story). Your NIC is supposed to drop _all_ packets that aren't a broadcast or aren't for the specific MAC address assigned to the NIC. Thus, you can't "see" traffic that isn't destined for your computer.

There is a thing called "promiscuous mode" that most NIC's can be set to where they don't drop packets that aren't for their MAC address. Thus they see all traffic when they are in that mode. That's the absolute basics of sniffing..... you see things you shouldn't.... If you can capture those packets and decode them then you can see stuff you probably weren't supposed to..... ;)

Hehe, just for kicks and to fire up Pooh, I voted "Not that much" simply for the reason that while I fully give them credit for improving things over the past few years (XP is loads better than Win9x), there've been too many conflicts, problems, bugs, issues, etc that have either been fixed way past due time or that they've been involved in things that did illegally report data on users without their knowledge or consent. But those things are in the past and I'm looking forward to XP SP2, which is a good sign to myself as trusting them a bit more.

I'd still rather have the open source arena, though, hehe... All IMHO, of course, and this is not a flame fest at all.

Mr William GatesIII and I simply PM eachother with the latest HOT pr0n sites we have trolled.

There is no conspiracy here, Microsoft have features in their older distros that assume a stand alone box? You conspiracy theorists just flatter yourselves?

If Billy Boy was that interested, just tell him to ship me a TJ and he can have the whole kit :D

If anything is sad, it is that M$ are too big to care about their private customers?

Just my thoughts

Heh, I voted not at all, just for kicks :D

But I actually do trust MS pretty well. If I didn't, why would I use MS Windows, MS Office, and MS Visual Studio?

I really wouldn't worry about it. It's just an error report, and they probably get so many each and every day that they won't bother to look at it twice.

But remember... Just because you're paraniod doesn't mean they're not out to get you :p

mjk

I would think that Microsoft are to busy looking to where there next million is coming from to spy on individual users.

But i bet that some were in the reporting, there is a view of what you have been upto. For market research or the like.

Well if all we had to worry about was MS phoning home with some usage info...then...hey wait a minute they do do that... :eek:

Anyway, as I was going to say before I interupted myself, if that's all we had to worry about, I'd give em my home phone number as well. Hell, Bill give me a call! Let's do lunch, you buy...lol

So, no I don't believe he has to spy on us with anything more that isn't already in use. It's no secret how much info your browser alone provides. Shoot, they probably already have a huge file on all MS users anyway. Dang I must be in there alot!


:)