VanLUG Email Archive
Ted Powell (ted@eslvcr.fireplug.net)
Mon, 8 Mar 1999 13:36:33 -0800
I just received this from a friend:
Does Big Brother have a name, and is his name Bill Gates?
The following news item appeared today in U.S.A. Today (on-line version)
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MS Windows inserts ID code into files
Microsoft admitted Sunday that its latest version of Windows generates a
unique serial number secretly planted within electronic documents that
could be used to trace the authors' identities. A Massachusetts programmer
noticed last week that documents he created using Microsoft's Word and
Excel programs in tandem with the Windows 98 operating system included
within their hidden software code part of a 32-digit number unique to his
computer. Microsoft said it will create a software tool to let customers
remove the number, which it said is meant to help customers who call with
technical problems.
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-- ted@psg.com http://psg.com/~ted/ (Ted Powell) "If you don't have the source code, you are probably going to be screwed in the long run." --Philip Greenspun
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