C27901RP%WUVMD.BITNET@wiscvm.arpa (11/01/85)
Here is something from COMPUSERVE that was briefly discussed on the Michigan system. Bob Parks (C27901RP@WUVMD.BITNET) Taken from Compuserve. A tale of malicious copy protection by Microsoft Access. If you think that all software companies are genuinely concerned with their customers, if you believe that Microsoft can do no harm, read on! The Day Microsoft Access Ate My Hard Disk by Sheldon L. Richman Computer Columnist, Washington (D.C.) Times I am an even-tempered person, but I am writing this in the white heat of anger. In Peter Finch's immortal words (from the movie Network), "I am mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore." Last week I reported on my problems with Microsoft's new communications program Access. To recap, the program refuses to connect to MCI Mail. But that's not what I am mad about. The other night when I tried to load Access a most unsettling thing happened: the program displayed a screen of threatening text that said in part, "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Now trashing your program disk." This mean-spirited message was a baseless accusation that I had illicitly copied the program; Microsoft was avenging this imaginary offense remotely by attacking my hard disk. After recovering from the shock I realized that every program in the root directory of the hard disk was gone. Luckily, those files were replaceable and no subdirectory was touched. Let me calmly discuss the significance of this incident. First, I was accused of having made an improper copy when in fact I had installed the program from the master disk Microsoft sent me. Second, my disk (it felt like my person) was violated by Microsoft's obnoxious protection scheme. I could have lost valuable files. It could happen to you. It is clear what happened: Access's copy-protection scheme went berserk. The companies still using copy-protection--many have dropped it-- complain about lost revenues from piracy. Is copy-protection the solution? No. Copy-protection consists of deliberately putting bad sectors on a disk. When a protected program is installed according to the manufacturer's instructions, are the bad sectors transferred to your disk? I imagine so. How do you know that the program won't eat your disk late one night when your in the middle of a crucial project? You don't. My case proves that manufacturers can't guarantee that innocent users won't suffer. That makes copy-protection an odious intrusion. I have a proposal. Let's refuse to buy any more copy-protected software. We should do this to protect our property. A boycott is also a good way to tell these companies that customers deserve respect. It's hard to like a company that restricts my ability to make backup copies of programs. If that's how a company treats me, I'll take my business elsewhere. By the way, Microsoft attitude about this was disappointing. A technician theorized that Access had a conflict with a memory-resident program, such as Sidekick. It apparently wasn't Access' fault. He made no offer to send me a new copy or a refund. (This person did not know I am a reviewer.) Would I have had recourse had an irreplaceable file been destroyed? Not according to Microsoft. Peruse this excerpt from its "license agreement": "Limited Warranty: The program is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind. The entire risk as to the results and performance of the program is assumed by you. Should the program prove defective, you (and not Microsoft or its dealers) assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction. Further, Microsoft does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or the results of the use of, the program in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise; and you rely on the program and results solely at your own risk." In other words, you're lucky if there's even a disk in the box. Nothing is promised. Now there's respect for you. Let's not take it anymore. Down with copy-protection! Whatever happened to "the customer is always right?" -30- Part II: I think we are within striking distance of having Microsoft remove copy-protection from its software. My bad experience with its program Access, described here last week, may be the incident that wins the day. For those who missed it, Microsoft's new communications software destroyed several files on my hard disk when the program's copy-protection scheme went berserk. Since my report I've had several interesting conversations with Microsoft people. I tried Chairman William Gates, but I couldn't get through. Microsoft's contrite public relations man, Marty Taucher, called me, wanting to know all the details so the technicians could explain why the program turned on me. Then product manager Jeff Sanderson called. He also wanted the details. They asked the questions, but I learned the interesting things. Both Sanderson and Taucher insisted that the screen of threatening text, culminating in the message, "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Now trashing your program disk," was only meant to scare. "There is nothing in the code to cause any erasure," Sanderson said. They both said that the message had been removed from the product a couple of weeks ago and that I had an older version. Owners who were concerned could exchange their software, Sanderson said. Oh, they also said the offensive warning was inserted in the program without authorization by a "summer programmer." When it was discovered, it was removed. How about that! The idle threat about disk-trashing was inserted without the knowledge of this large and prosperous software company. And the threat that was supposed to merely scare innocent users somehow came alive and destroyed my files. Microsoft has good reason to be worried about this incident. It is a software company's nightmare to have its program eat the customers' files. If my misfortune pushes Microsoft into giving up copy protection--and I have a hunch it might--then I am happy to have contributed to the cause. Several major companies allow buyers to freely make backup copies. They include Micropro International (WordStar and WordStar 2000), Microrim (R:Base 5000), Sorcim (SuperCalc 3), Satellite Software (WordPerfect) and now Living Videotext (ThinkTank). These are topnotch programs. So why buy the protected Lotus 1-2-3, dBase III, Multiplan, or Microsoft Word when you can have one of those without the headache of copy protection? Ask your dealer and have him ask the manufacturer. We can beat this thing if we try. -30- >>>>>>>>> From Michael Palmer C03640JP@WUVMD.BITNET > "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Now trashing your program > disk." > Oh, they also said the offensive warning was inserted in the > program without authorization by a "summer programmer." When it was > discovered, it was removed. Somebody is lying. Any old-time MicroSoft WORD user knows that the message has been in WORD (except that it is the "tree of crime") since version 1.0 (at least two years now) as has been mentioned in BBS's many times. There is much more good stuff about the MICROSOFT FREEDOM FIGHTERS and all kinds of rhetoric in the hidden protection files. (1) maybe microsoft is lying -- I believe them when they say the warning is not associated with any destructive code. I just don't believe they could be that stupid. But if they really did try to tell him that the message was just recently and unknowingly inserted, they are lying through their teeth or else have no idea what their programmers are doing, since the messages have been common BBS fodder for years. (And, indeed, we have discussed these very messages with reference to WORD here before.) (2) maybe the columnist is -- I know nothing of him, but maybe he dislikes copy protection enough to lie about the damage after really receiving the message (though every mention of the message I have ever seen has been from someone who dug it out with DEBUG, not someone who has gotten it on the screen). (3) maybe both Bob Parks C27901RP@WUVMD.BITNET adds-> Certainly erasing files via a copy protection scheme is arguable in court - As everyone knows, courts decide in ways (precedents) that some do not expect. But if this story is true, then it would seem in the Times' interest to sue MicroSoft if for nothing more than the publicity that it would generate for the paper. Hence my suspicions lead me to believe Michael's point (3) - i.e., both the columnist and MicroSoft are not telling the whole truth. MicroSoft could not be so dumb as to not know about the message, and if the columnist had suffered erasure, then he would certainly sue. Who knows, maybe he will - asking for Punitive damages.
mdm@ecn-pc.UUCP (Mike D McEvoy) (11/10/85)
>RE: The Day Microsoft Access Ate My Hard Disk by Sheldon L. > Richman Computer Columnist, Washington (D.C.) Times > >Certainly erasing files via a copy protection scheme is arguable in >court - As everyone knows, courts decide in ways (precedents) that >some do not expect. How about an opinion from some of the legal eagles out there in net land. Are there any legal grounds for suit against Microsoft for installing disk eater copy "protection" schemes" Are they liable for damages due to the destruction of file due to the action of deliberatly installed code to avenge the user??? Big Mac