Can Windows 10 disable pirated software/hardware?

[C_sector]

Let's be quite frank here.. sure many of us will complain and moan about microsoft being greedy, have horrible business practices and is becoming more akin to EA Junior. But the truth is, most of those same people will most likely buy a microsoft product by the end of the month (or even sooner) if they havnt done so already.

Anyways, I came across the below article:

http://en.yibada.com/articles/54296/20150815/windows-10-can-disable-pirated-games-from-the-pirate-bay-and-other-similar-websites-and-counterfeit-hardware.htm

Which states that windows 10 will disable all pirated software/hardware on your computer. That is disable them outright to combat piracey and that its mentioned in the windows 10 EULA.

Quote from article

According to Section 7b of Microsoft's EULA - "Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms" the system "may automatically check your version of the software and download software update or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorised hardware peripheral devices," via Alphr.

Now, let me be absolutly clear, I have no way of knowing if this article is entirelly factual or outright BS! I personally am not sure if windows 10 has that capability. But I thought it does bring up some interesting discussion points....

such as:

1) Assuming this is true, Is this a fair measure to combat piracey or is this an outright invasion of personal liberties?

2) Is it Microsoft's responsibility to tackle software piracy?

3) Again, assuming that the article is factual, a vast, vast majority of windows PC users will eventually make the switch to windows 10, is it ethical of Microsoft to force this measure on us?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I don't know about the US, but in Europe (excluding the UK probably) there's no EULA that could possibly give them the right to sift through your software and disable it. Cracks by themselves aren't illegal. They would have to prove that you pirated the entire product, and it's not their business, it's not their right or responsibility to do that. They also have no way of knowing if you're simply using a crack for your legally purchased game or if you pirated the entire thing. So they can't mess with your files.

But I don't think there's anything to worry about anyway: http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-can-automatically-disable-pirated-games-unauthorized-hardware-your-windows-10-pc

Microsoft's Services EULA is different from the one governing Windows (Microsoft Software License Terms), which means that the amendments Microsoft added recently were to protect against counterfeiting of Xbox Live and Windows Store content, and not monitoring (or disabling) illicit content on Windows 10.

And even if they did all that, pirates would simply update the cracked exe after every update that disables it. So it would be pointless.

 

[Albino Boo]

Quote from article

According to Section 7b of Microsoft's EULA - "Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms" the system "may automatically check your version of the software and download software update or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorised hardware peripheral devices," via Alphr.

That means you can't disable any DRM. Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal. It's no different from from console bans on the xbox, which have existed for years.

 

[IceForce]

Pretty sure they can't tell that something has "come from The Pirate Bay".

It's not like TPB watermarks everything it indexes or anything like that.

 

[IceForce]

Cracks by themselves aren't illegal.

Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal.

Wait ... getting mixed messages here.

Cracks remove DRM, that's what they do. But already in this thread we have someone saying that cracks aren't illegal, and another person saying that they are.

Soooo, who's right?

 

[Albino Boo]

Cracks by themselves aren't illegal.

Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal.

Wait ... getting mixed messages here.

Cracks remove DRM, that's what they do. But already in this thread we have someone saying that cracks aren't illegal, and another person saying that they are.

Soooo, who's right?

I said, despite what internet lawyers tell you cracks are illegal. That's a the hint

 

[Hoplon]

It will disable unauthorised software, but since you don't have to let automated updates do anything but windows it's not a big problem. but there is lots of software it won't ever check. mostly it seems to be utilities and drivers and the like rather than and of the big programs.

 

[Creator002]

I wonder if if will also affect pirated software on a pirated Windows 10 copy. I'm sure we'll get the answer soon, as funny as it will probably be. [footnote]Windows noticing itself as pirated and disabling itself. ^.^[/footnote]

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Cracks by themselves aren't illegal.

Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal.

Wait ... getting mixed messages here.

Cracks remove DRM, that's what they do. But already in this thread we have someone saying that cracks aren't illegal, and another person saying that they are.

Soooo, who's right?

I was talking about Europe. Well, most of Europe. For now.

 

[Something Amyss]

1) Assuming this is true, Is this a fair measure to combat piracey or is this an outright invasion of personal liberties?

I'm not sure whether it's a fair measure or not, but piracy is not a personal liberty.

2) Is it Microsoft's responsibility to tackle software piracy?

No, and I'm not sure they should, either. Like, I still have compatibility issues with my purchased software. I'm not even sure I trust them to not screw up this sort of implementation.

3) Again, assuming that the article is factual, a vast, vast majority of windows PC users will eventually make the switch to windows 10, is it ethical of Microsoft to force this measure on us?

I have trouble seeing why they would be ethically obligated to let you play pirated games. To the contrary, I wonder about the ethics of catering to people if you know they are pirates.

But this is a weird place to be, given that Microsoft can read your emails and such and is, by default, set up to give out huge chunks of personal info.

That means you can't disable any DRM. Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal. It's no different from from console bans on the xbox, which have existed for years.

Console bans aren't because modding your console is illegal. It's because you violated Microsoft's terms of use.

 

[IceForce]

Pretty sure they can't tell that something has "come from The Pirate Bay".

It's not like TPB watermarks everything it indexes or anything like that.

If they could then they would probably disable my copy of GTA 5 since torrenting it proved to be a much faster alternative to Rockstars servers.

Funny thing about that, Microsoft are adopting a bittorrent-style P2P system for Windows 10's updates.

That's the main reason why it's such a popular distribution method (for both legit applications as well as pirates), -- the speed.
Although the flipside of this is that it does chew bandwidth like crazy.

 

[gunny1993]

As far as I can see this is just simple internet hype mega overreacting and the policy that it stems from specifically only cover microsoft stuff like their store.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3h5wwg/windows_10_disabling_pirated_software_not_so_fast/

 

[DefunctTheory]

As far as I can see this is just simple internet hype mega overreacting and the policy that it stems from specifically only cover microsoft stuff like their store.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3h5wwg/windows_10_disabling_pirated_software_not_so_fast/

This.

To even enact such a policy on all software, ever, they'd need software developers to constantly keep them up to date on all their programs, every update, every patch, ever. Which, as you can imagine, will never happen - Its simply too big for even Microsoft to do. This only covers the stuff directly offered from Microsoft, through the store (Or from any other Microsoft service), which makes complete sense, and I personally don't have a problem with.

 

[Thaluikhain]

The only possible way that they could do this is for Win10 not to let anything at all work on...

Oh. Goddamnit, every time they bring out a new version it's worse than the last

More seriously, I'd really, really not trust them to come up with a magic pirate identifying thing and block stuff. The old windows help doesn't want to work, this is something very different.

Also, define "pirated". Does everyone who uses windows software have the same definition? Is this going to change over time? For example, abandonware (Actual abandonware where the owner have said "hell with it, don't care, it's free now" rather than just old stuff they aren't currently selling) used to be the sort of stuff you'd be pirating if you downloaded it without paying for. Would windows make a distinction?

 

[Dessembrae]

Cracks by themselves aren't illegal.

Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal.

Wait ... getting mixed messages here.

Cracks remove DRM, that's what they do. But already in this thread we have someone saying that cracks aren't illegal, and another person saying that they are.

Soooo, who's right?

It depends on what country you live in. In some removing DRM is illegal no matter the reason, but in others removing DRM for legally purchased copies for private use (like if you buy a movie on bluray and rip it to your computer) is a legal right.

 

[CrystalShadow]

1) Assuming this is true, Is this a fair measure to combat piracey or is this an outright invasion of personal liberties?

I'm not sure whether it's a fair measure or not, but piracy is not a personal liberty.

2) Is it Microsoft's responsibility to tackle software piracy?

No, and I'm not sure they should, either. Like, I still have compatibility issues with my purchased software. I'm not even sure I trust them to not screw up this sort of implementation.

3) Again, assuming that the article is factual, a vast, vast majority of windows PC users will eventually make the switch to windows 10, is it ethical of Microsoft to force this measure on us?

I have trouble seeing why they would be ethically obligated to let you play pirated games. To the contrary, I wonder about the ethics of catering to people if you know they are pirates.

But this is a weird place to be, given that Microsoft can read your emails and such and is, by default, set up to give out huge chunks of personal info.

That means you can't disable any DRM. Despite what any internet lawyers tell you, removing drm is illegal. It's no different from from console bans on the xbox, which have existed for years.

Console bans aren't because modding your console is illegal. It's because you violated Microsoft's terms of use.

The question here in terms of ethics isn't so much about piracy, but the kind of snooping and invasive modifications to files and data that they don't own.

Is it ethical to remotely mess with someone's computer in a way that is detrimental to that person?
The saying two wrongs don't make a right comes to mind.

Doing ethically dubious things to people to prove they did somethinb wrong and then mess with their stuff if you find that they did...?
Is that justifiable under any circumstances?
For that matter is the invasion of everyone's privacy involved in even being able to determine this kind of thing in the first place acceptable?

I don't think it is...
In the same sense that dropping a nuke on a city because you think there's a mafia hideout somewhere in the city would not be in any way acceptable, this seems like massively out of proportion to what it's trying to combat.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

It is a BS claim. It only affects Microsoft product apps. It would take way too much BS to program a self check for appropriate files and versions, and MS cannot enforce shutting down programs that don't match up to a version check that they didn't develop. Thats all. Or you can read and rage about every misunderstanding or rumor you see on the internet. Your choice.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

It is a BS claim. It only affects Microsoft product apps. It would take way too much BS to program a self check for appropriate files and versions, and MS cannot enforce shutting down programs that don't match up to a version check that they didn't develop. Thats all. Or you can read and rage about every misunderstanding or rumor you see on the internet. Your choice.

Beat me to it. Did some research and yeah, only effects stuff on the microsoft store or xbox live. So I guess kinda like trying to run a pirated steam game while using steam? I dunno.

 

[lacktheknack]

I wonder if if will also affect pirated software on a pirated Windows 10 copy. I'm sure we'll get the answer soon, as funny as it will probably be. [footnote]Windows noticing itself as pirated and disabling itself. ^.^[/footnote]

Windows has done that since XP. More than once, I've had to contend with Windows incorrectly declaring itself "non-genuine" and trying to disable all its features. (Pro-tip: Cracking the check was NOT FUN and took about thirty tries to move fast enough to disable all the relevant checks before they restarted each other.)

The only difference here is that there shouldn't be any pirated versions out in the wild yet (what with it being... you know... free). Plus, it's not likely the piracy-killing feature would ever get implemented. So no, we're not going to get any answers, hilarious or otherwise.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Yeesh, that's a toss-up.

On one hand, M$ cannot hope to track and correctly identify even a tenth of all illicit altered "pirate" code; Most of which REMOVES code for the purpose of defeating DRM. Developing a fully functional pirate-code detector is virtually impossible, since it's infinitely less complicated to detect via what is, rather than by what's missing.

For an overwhelming majority of piratable content, there isn't a single "checksum" profile. Hell, with all the various versions, patches and permutations of LEGITIMATE CODE out there, there's rarely a single version to check that way either.

If it was scanning ala anti-virus, the reference database would be fucking enormous.
Updates would be incredibly large, even via P2P transfer, it's just too costly to be feasible.

The only realistic method would be to clamp down on the entire system and tag EVERYTHING that it can run, which only slows down the process briefly by requiring Jailbreaking.

On the other hand, false positives are all but certain.
Microsoft has an awful track record with digital heuristics (in my experience Windows Defender is close to worthless; far more often a hindrance than helpful) and even its own "Windows Authentication".
It depends on the breadth of the code being scanned: Only Microsoft products? Microsoft's affiliates? More? Less?

In any case, I'd expect some interference of legitimate code from Microsoft's products.
Apart from that, the issue is well beyond them.