Windows 10 Can Find And Disable Pirated Games

[dlevere]

Microsoft can disable your pirated games and illegal hardware

Microsoft Windows 10 Updated terms let Microsoft invade your Windows 10 computer in search of counterfeit software

By Vaughn Highfield

Microsoft's updated End User License Agreement terms and conditions let it disable any counterfeit software or hardware and, if you’re running a Windows 10 computer, you’ve just agreed to them.

Section 7b – or “Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms” – of Microsoft's Services EULA stipulates that it “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 unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.”

The list of services covered by the agreement doesn't explicitly include Windows 10. However, it does include your Microsoft account, which is an extensive part of the Windows 10 experience, as well as core features like Cortana – and that implies Redmond can disable any games you’ve pirated or devices you’ve "unlawfully" hacked. Enable Cortana (which pretty much everyone using Windows 10 is going to do) and you're subject to the services agreement.

While it’s incredibly clear what Microsoft means by “counterfeit games”, the wording “unauthorized hardware peripheral devices” is a little hazy. Does this mean Microsoft can now block uncertified PC or illegally modified Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers? Furthermore, Microsoft’s agreement doesn’t state whether it will also disable other counterfeit software, such as cracked versions of Office or Adobe Photoshop, or if it only cares about pirated Microsoft games.

I’ve reached out to Microsoft for a comment about these unanswered questions and will update you when more information becomes available. (UPDATE: More than five days after we initially published this story and we still haven't heard anything back. If anyone from Microsoft reads this, please get in touch!)

Video-game piracy, or “counterfeit games” as Microsoft puts it, has been a big issue in PC gaming for a long time. Many developers have sought to circumvent it by hard-coding impossible odds into their games, which are only solved by having a purchased activation code on your computer. The same issue is also now becoming prevalent on Android and jailbroken iOS devices. However, under Microsoft’s new Services agreement, Windows 10 Mobile would be able to combat any pirated software a user loads onto their phone – potentially making it an attractive prospect for indie developers scared of having their work stolen.

Interestingly, Microsoft killed off the incredibly unpopular, DRM-heavy Windows Live Games in Windows 10, and opted to support Steam instead. But, with these terms and conditions, Microsoft has managed to do something that's arguably worse, potentially limiting the use of software that doesn't even have DRM on it.

How far can Microsoft push this? Like Expert Reviews, we think it's unlikely that Microsoft actually intends to go after pirated games on the PC. The services agreement was clearly written originally for Xbox and Xbox Live, and when written was probably only intended to ever apply to them.

However, because Microsoft has simply taken an existing services agreement and applied it to core Windows 10 services such as Cortana means that, intentionally or accidentally, it could be applied to Windows 10. And until Microsoft clarifies things, we think this remains a legal grey area.

[Combusto Dragon]

*dislike*

good that we play emulators on our consoles like PS2, PS3 and PSP

to Mac Users- you are lucky that you don't have Windows

[bungholio]

I kinda couldn't mind, as long as it isn't retarded and disables non-pirated non-illegal stuff. But what will they really do if they find you have it? Just disable it or send a notice or alert authorities? What's their plan? Anybody that knows how to do stuff can likely break this feature of windows, likely undetected. How will they know things are pirated? Some pirated stuff is released by the owners and modified in a special way so they know it's pirated, some a software engineer cracks and releases, some a valid registration key generator is made and released, and whatever else. Unless everything gets to the point of having a purchasable registration key for use with your name and personal info, how can they tell anything? How will they tell my old game of Doom and Doom 2 apart from illegal when their disks never had any copy protection and nor did the game? Programmers will use Microsoft Studios programming stuff to break anything, how will they protect people from their own software that is free on the web by them?

I couldn't imagine them just telling everyone how they'll do it, if everyone knows how they'll get around it then. No matter what there's always a way around.

As for people that hack their hardware and finding it can be greatly upgraded to a better version or things like that, I'd consider them legit. It's complete BS when things are intentionally manufactured to be inferior garbage with all of the perfect bells and whistles in their CPU/GPU/SPU and other stuff. That's as ridiculous as them expecting me to not find DLC on my purchased PS3 games and not expecting me to be irked that they expect me to buy stuff on the disk that I wouldn't see if it weren't for being on a CFW. If they intend to bust people for that BS, then they better start holding hardware manufacturers accountable too because it's absurd to intentionally sell me something they modified to be broken and then not expect me to get irked and modify it because us consumers are just dumb know-nothing fools who aren't supposed to see it right in front of us when not all of us are. If they make it and intentionally break it, others "unbreaking" it should be perfectly legal, and if it's great but others can make it better, I'd still call it fine and legal. They don't make perfection, and if I buy it, IT IS MINE TO DO AS I WISH.

[dlevere]

Windows 10 isn't watching your every move

By Brad Bourque

Windows 10 has come under a lot of fire for its privacy settings, which some users complain are too invasive, and report too much data back to Microsoft. From reports of files being backed up and sold on the cloud, to concerns over login info and location data being send to Redmond, it would seem on the surface that Windows 10 is in serious trouble.

But it’s not the first Windows release to face scrutiny and controversy, and as it turns out, Microsoft’s data policies are a lot clearer than its competitors in a number of key areas. Plus, much of the advice that concerned users are offering can cause more privacy problems than they solve.

Is this Winpocalypse, or just tinfoil hat paranoia?

Remote app kill

The idea that Microsoft can remotely remove unlicensed applications is a common misconception, and it starts with a correct interpretation of the wrong document. True, the Microsoft Services Agreement states explicitly “We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.”

But scrolling a little further down reveals another more relevant truth — that agreement doesn’t include Windows as an operating system. It does cover apps downloaded or purchased from the Windows Store, as well as Xbox and Windows Live games. But most companies use some form of DRM on games anyway, and the policy doesn’t extend to non-Microsoft titles.

It’s also very important that Microsoft be able to do this, at least with apps distributed through the Window Store and Windows Update. Security risks need to be dealt with quickly, and are almost never solvable at the user end. In those cases where an app has started spreading malware, machines that aren’t updated will continue to be affected by, and propagate, the software.

Data or telemetry

One of the keys to understanding why the Microsoft privacy policies aren’t that scary is knowing the difference between data and telemetry. While data is the actual contents of the files on your system, telemetry is the usage data that every system keeps track of, and Microsoft treats them very differently.

Microsoft couldn’t be clearer about the difference. In a plain English blog post discussing privacy concerns in Windows 10, it’s clearly stated that collected data includes “an anonymous device ID, device type, and application crash data” and “doesn’t include any of your content or files.” In addition, Microsoft takes “several steps to avoid collecting any information that directly identifies you, such as your name, email address or account ID.”



If error reporting and anonymous traffic is still a concern, then the next step is smashing your smartphone and getting off the grid. If you just don’t believe Microsoft specifically, that’s a different story, and one that statements from them won’t assuage.

Solutions to avoid

One of the most popular solutions the privacy changes in Windows 10 is to stick with Windows 7. That’s a far greater security risk than updating, even if you’re convinced Microsoft’s cronies are after you.

One site I found recommended blocking all network contact by Windows using the built-in firewall. The site suggested doing so by downloading and running a batch script as an administrator. That’s such a bad idea, my mind nearly imploded after reading it. I still can’t comprehend how anyone could even suggest it with a straight face. Perhaps they weren’t – perhaps it’s opportunistic malware.

There are other issues, too. Blocking Windows telemetry at the firewall level is guaranteed to disable not just features like Cortana, but also important system events like error reporting and critical security updates, even if the features that require contact have already been shut off.

Apart from that, running a downloaded batch script could enable all sorts of worse reporting and tracking from people who won’t be honest about that data’s use like Microsoft will. Doing so is a far greater security threat than anything Microsoft is doing, and you should question the security advice of anyone who points you in that direction.

Hard drive upload and access

Dr. Avery Jenkins, a chiropractor in Litchfield, Connecticut with a background in tech, points out what he believed to be a serious privacy concern for doctors using Windows 10 on his blog. In it, he cites a specific passage of the Windows privacy policy, claiming that it “gives Microsoft permission to Hoover up every particle of data on a doctor’s hard drive.”

There are two important factors that prevent this from being the case, and they have to do with how Microsoft defines data, and the reasons that data can be shared. Importantly, the data collected by Microsoft only includes files you upload to OneDrive, not all of the data stored locally, or even on another non-Microsoft cloud service.



When it comes to government requests for data, Microsoft is almost shockingly open about its cooperation, sharing what it can on the Microsoft Transparency Hub. While some companies share this information in similar ways, most release only occasional reports with a few numbers on percentages of requests fulfilled.

What can actually be done

Dr. Jenkins is actually offering sane, reasonable advice about protecting your privacy. With a little bit of extra work learning how an operating system functions, Linux is an effective option for keeping private information local. Carefully selecting and maintaining a distribution leaves systems beholden to no business, but places security in the user’s hands.

“I turned to Linux years ago because I was concerned with security, as well as reliability. Today, all my systems are open source and run on Linux. My server runs Debian, and all of the other computers use Ubuntu.” It would seem the source of Dr. Jenkins move wasn’t Windows 10 specifically, but instead he knew that truly protecting patient privacy means examining computing needs at a very basic level, and putting in the time yourself.

If that solution seems a bit extreme, it’s not a bad idea to stick with Microsoft. The amount and contents of the uploaded data is not tied to you in any meaningful way, and there’s no clear indication that any sensitive data is finding its way into the telemetry.



Times have changed. Operating systems, from mobile to desktop, are more reliant on the cloud than ever, and the communal effort to improve the OS experience is stronger than ever. Achieving that requires some compromise on the user end.

But this isn’t the same tone-deaf Microsoft that took away the Start menu in Windows 8. Windows 10 is a modern OS in line with common data use and computing practices. You can either get used to it, tweak it to fit your needs, or check out what Linux has to offer.