[BC] Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) of 2006

[Mark Earle]

 >full retail price.  In contrast to this, most game and software companies 
WILL
 >replace a damaged DC for a nominal charge. Even Microsoft will.
 >
 >The RIAA and MPAA want it both ways - they want it one way when it suits them
 >and the opposite way when it suits THEM!
 >
 >They are the most anti-consumer cartels in history!
 >
 >-D

Yes - but even Microsoft is trying to dramatically change the rules. See

http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000178.html

Basically, MS asserts that the license you bought to use software is 
revocable at a point in the future, by various means, including your 
internet connection.

Brief qoute from Lauren's email:

Microsoft has major piracy problems, on a massive scale -- this we
all know.  They have been ramping up their infrastructure to prohibit
"non-validated" copies of Windows XP from installing non-critical
software updates.  What many people don't realize is that MS does not
consider validation to be a necessarily permanent state.  Even after
a copy of XP has been validated, MS may choose to "revoke" that
validation (via communications with their Windows Update site) at a
later date if activation codes are found to be pirated in the future.

Why is the new version of the validity tool trying to communicate
with MS at every boot?  The MS officials tell me that at this time
the connections are to provide an emergency "escape" mechanism to
allow MS to disable the validation tool if it were to malfunction.

While most users will routinely accept the tool update from Windows
Update, MS considers it to be (for now) an optional upgrade as part
of a pilot program, as described in accompanying license information
that (as we know) most users will never read.  (I should note that
while these materials do discuss Internet connections, they do not
appear to notify users that the updated tool will make multiple
connections to MS at various intervals, even on systems that are
already validated.)

I was told that no information is sent from the PC to MS during these
connections in their current modality, though MS does receive IP
address and date/timestamp data relating to systems' booting and
continued operations, which MS would not necessarily otherwise be
receiving.

Apparently these transactions will also occur once a day if systems
are kept booted, though MS intends to ramp that frequency back
(initially I believe to once every two weeks) with a future update
in the near future.  Further down the line, the connections would be
used differently, to provide validation checks at intervals (e.g.,
every 90 days as validations expire) with MS, even if the user never
accessed the Windows Update site directly.

Can you safely block the tool from communicating with MS using
ZoneAlarm or another third-party firewall?  The answer appears to be
yes.  I'm told that if the tool can't communicate with MS,
validation checks will be made the next time the system communicates
directly with the Windows Update site, in the same manner as has
been done up to now since validation began.