TO: Internet2@microsoft-antipiracy.com FROM: ******@guidoz.com SUBJECT: RE: Demand for Immediate Take Down - Notice of Infringing Activity - MS Ref. 45677 To whom it may concern (James Young?), Before you "demand" anything from anyone, you should get your facts straight. Luckily my web host is smart enough to question this "notice" and forwarded it on to me to deal with. I'd also be happy to field any replies. For starters, both my web host and I agree you have no merit at all with this claim. Allow me to explain by touching on your email in detail... > Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of Infringing Activity > > URL: http://www.guidoz.com/requests/WGA%20Tray%20Removal%20(GuidoZ).exe > CASE #: 45677 > > 22 June 2006 The above is merely for your records so we all are on the same page. > Dear Sir or Madam, > > Microsoft has received information that the domain listed above, which appears > to be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is > engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works > published by Microsoft. Has Microsoft received this information for real? Then how come they didn't contact me (or my web host) instead of an independent organization? I'm no push over and I know for damn sure that "microsoft-antipiracy.com" has nothing to do with Microsoft. There is plenty more info available on the web. Let's move on... and yes, we'll touch on the "unauthorized activities" in a bit. > 1. Identification of copyrighted works: > > Copyrighted work(s): > Windows XP Professional > Windows XP Home Edition > > Copyright owner: > Microsoft Corporation No argument from me that Microsoft holds the copyright on Windows XP Home and Professional. (Hey, we actually agreed on something.) > 2. Copyright infringing material or activity found at the following > location(s): http://www.guidoz.com/requests/WGA%20Tray%20Removal%20(GuidoZ).exe > > The above location is offering 'Cracks' or 'Product Keys', intended to > circumvent technical measures that control access to Microsoft's copyrighted > works and that protect Microsoft's copyrights in those works. Now we get to the argument! The file you are referencing is merely a batch file that has been compiled into an EXE. I'm certain that Microsoft doesn't hold any copyright on batch files, so we'll assume that's not what you meant. On the same note, there isn't a single "Product Key" at all to be found, so naturally we'll assume that also isn't the issue. You must be talking about a "Crack"! Before I jump into this, I'll assume you've also ruffled your feathers in front of other websites, such as these: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/04/workarounds-to-disable-non-genuine.html http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/04/26/disable-and-remove-windows-genuine-advantage-notifications-nag-screen/ http://www.barficulture.com/community/viewtopic.php?p=9322& http://blogyourself.net/ http://spcug.net/index2.htm http://www.freshnews.org/click.php?id=413837 You can see the other 9,000+ "infringing sites" by doing a simple Google search for "disable wga tray". (Well, I guess the Microsoft fan boys would rather use MSN search. It should yield close to the same results - your pick.) So now the argument about my "crack". No, it's not a crack. It's an uninstaller. The WGA Tray has been proven to be a privacy concern. (More info: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/11/2053214 and http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060608002958907 and http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?page_id=3170). The WGA Tray process is little better than spyware in the same way as the recent Sony Rootkit. Yes, Microsoft has a right to protect their intellectual property. End users also have the right to protect their privacy. That is exactly the intent of my WGA Tray Removal "program". True pirates don't need my help in removing such an annoyance. If they really wanted to circumvent it, they would use one of the 9,000+ sites that describe the procedure. My "program" is for those who realize they do not need or want to be monitored by this WGA Tray application as they have a VALID and LICENSED copy of XP Home/Pro, yet it still runs (wasting resources) and phones home. (It still remains to be seen if this fake "critical update" actually is the cause of a security concern. It certainly doesn't solve any.) Also for your records, below is the uncompiled batch file from the EXE in question. As you can see, no funny business. Just an uninstaller: ----- BELOW THIS LINE THE BATCH BEGINS ----- @echo off cls TITLE WGA Tray Reminder Removal Tool echo. echo WGA Tray Reminder removal tool by GuidoZ echo. echo This program will remove the WGA tray nag. echo If it doesn't work on the first try, run echo it from Safe Mode instead. This program echo will kill the Explorer process, so make echo sure to save all open documents first! echo. echo Press any key to begin or CTRL+C to stop. pause>nul echo. echo Stopping Explorer and WGA Tray processes... start /wait taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe sleep.exe 3 start /wait taskkill /F /IM WgaTray.exe echo. echo Done! Removing files... (ignore error messages) del C:\Windows\Prefetch\WgaTray.exe del C:\Windows\System32\WgaTray.exe del C:\Windows\System32\dllcache\WgaTray.exe del C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribute\WgaTray.exe if exist %temp%\wgafix.reg goto DELREG goto FIXREG :DELREG del %temp%\wgafix.reg :FIXREG echo. echo Done! Removing Registry entries... echo REGEDIT4 >> %temp%\wgafix.reg echo. >> %temp%\wgafix.reg echo [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WgaLogon] >> %temp%\wgafix.reg echo. >> %temp%\wgafix.reg echo. >> %temp%\wgafix.reg regedit /s %temp%\wgafix.reg echo. echo Done! Cleaning up and restarting Explorer... del %temp%\wgafix.reg start Explorer.exe echo. echo Done! WGA tray reminder is now removed. echo. echo Coded with love by GuidoZ echo Find more here: http://www.GuidoZ.com echo. echo Press any key to exit and close this window. pause>nul exit ----- ABOVE THIS LINE THE BATCH ENDS ----- In case you are wondering, "sleep.exe" is a program that simply pauses the batch file for the given number of seconds (3 in this case). It's not a Microsoft program, so don't even go there. Google (er, MSN) it if you'd like a copy. Moving on... > 3. Statement of authority: > > The information in this notice is accurate, and I hereby certify under penalty > of perjury that I am authorized to act on behalf of Microsoft, the owner of > the copyright(s) in the work(s) identified above. I have a good faith belief > that none of the materials or activities listed above have been authorized by > Microsoft, its agents, or the law. You're last statement is correct - Microsoft certainly didn't authorize the activities or materials. (We agreed again!) As for the accuracy of the information you provided... that's another argument. But I digress. > We hereby give notice of these activities to you and request that you take > expeditious action to remove or disable access to the material described > above, and thereby prevent the unauthorized distribution of these cracks or > product keys via your company's network. I hereby give notice to you that my web host, nor I, will do nothing of the sort. No cracks (or product keys) are being distributed. (See explanation above.) > We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Please advise us regarding > what actions you take. Consider this email your "advisement on the actions". You can also click the link in question, quoted above, to see what actions were taken. > Yours sincerely, > > James Young > Internet Investigator > > on behalf of Microsoft Corporation > One Microsoft Way > Redmond, WA 98052 > United States of America > > E-mail: Internet1@microsoft-antipiracy.com Likewise. -- Peace. ~G