Microsoft Sues ‘Does’ For Activating Pirated Software

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Holy cow, how many pirated copies of Windows 7 do you have to activate from the same IP before you get Microsoft's attention? I'm guessing "a lot."

Microsoft has filed a complaint at a federal court in Washington accusing person(s) behind an AT&T subscription of activating various pirated copies of Windows 7 and Office 10. The account was identified by Microsoft's in-house cyberforensics team based on suspicious "activation patterns."
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Definitely sounds like someone selling PCs.

These keys were likely stolen from Microsoft’s supply chain, used without permission from the refurbisher channel, and used more often than the license permits.
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How do you steal keys from their supply chain? Is someone using a keygen and successfully activating the keys or what? What methods allow people to activate keys if Microsoft knows they're illegitimate? I'm guessing this is similar to how shady game key sites operate.
 
My guess is that hackers found a way to exploit windows activation and the 'voluntarily submitted information' in the pirated distributions was hard coded to show this single IP :)
 
B00nie said:
My guess is that hackers found a way to exploit windows activation and the 'voluntarily submitted information' in the pirated distributions was hard coded to show this single IP :)
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Perhaps you have just exposed a hacktivist movement aimed at bringing down a company that gave a pimple-faced thirty-something still living in his mother's basement a bad deal one time? Never underestimate the power of an Internet troll with a grudge...
 
djoye said:
Definitely sounds like someone selling PCs.

How do you steal keys from their supply chain? Is someone using a keygen and successfully activating the keys or what? What methods allow people to activate keys if Microsoft knows they're illegitimate? I'm guessing this is similar to how shady game key sites operate.
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It could be Corporate Enterprise versions and a fake KMS activation server. It's an old trick.
 
There are many ways of acquiring licence keys, but Microsoft don't really seem that interested. I think this follows the theory of - if it is a pirate Windows\Office installed then it means it isn't a product from the opposition (Apple\Linux\ChromeOS\etc)

I run a legitimate IT Support business and there is nothing more annoying than seeing an advert in the local papers which claims to "Install Windows 7 for £15". This is obviously pirate software. Yet Microsoft will not do anything about this guy even though he has been trading for many years. Same mobile number was in the same adverts back in the Win XP era.

What gets annoying is when one of his clients comes to me when his crack fails and I then have to explain to that person about how they were scammed and it is now going to cost 'em a few hundred to buy a licence and reinstall everything.

I have one here now.... a laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate on it. Clearly a stolen key - so this means my only option for the client will be a new OS then wipe and install.
 
BlueMeanie said:
I have one here now.... a laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate on it. Clearly a stolen key - so this means my only option for the client will be a new OS then wipe and install.
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I also work at a computer repair shop that is an ASP for 4 large companies. When a machine comes in with Ultimate (either Vista or Win 7) it is one of my major red flags for piracy because very few OEM units were sold with Ultimate loaded on and almost nobody paid extra to buy it for personal reasons. Also, non-buisness product lines with Pro instead of Home.
 
Cobra said:
I also work at a computer repair shop that is an ASP for 4 large companies. When a machine comes in with Ultimate (either Vista or Win 7) it is one of my major red flags for piracy because very few OEM units were sold with Ultimate loaded on and almost nobody paid extra to buy it for personal reasons. Also, non-buisness product lines with Pro instead of Home.
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There's hardly any reason for anyone to have the Ultimate edition. I have the same experience ... and it seems that in the Philippines it is common place to see Windows 7 Ultimate on everything. :eek:
 
I would love to see a graph of "Installed copies of Win7\Vista Ultimate Edition". And then see that graph split in to "legally bought and paid for" and "dodgy pirate copies". I bet that "legal" branch will be a thin sliver.

Actually - the legal licences would then need to be split into "actually paid for ultimate" or "using the Ultimate licence from an MS Action Pack \ MSDN \ etc subscription"

Okay - here at [H] - hands up who actually *paid* for Ultimate? :D
 
BlueMeanie said:
What gets annoying is when one of his clients comes to me when his crack fails and I then have to explain to that person about how they were scammed and it is now going to cost 'em a few hundred to buy a licence and reinstall everything.
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I hated that back in the XP era. I had at least one PC a week with that problem. Someone installed a cracked copy of XP, and eventually it said it was illegitimate. After making sure it was not a false positive, I had to tell them the bad news. The most common response - "can you crack it again so it works and I don't have to pay?".
 
The number one pirated product I see come in is Office though. I would not be over-exaggerating to say that 9 out of 10 customers that need windows reloaded either:

Say they thought office was part of windows
Say that office came with their new laptop provided free from the OEM
Say they don't know where they got office from
Say they can't find their product key email or box but insist they bought it
Say they had a friend or family member buy and install it for them

None of them can believe office costs a minimum of a couple hundred dollars.

I have these conversations several times a day.
 
BlueMeanie said:
I would love to see a graph of "Installed copies of Win7\Vista Ultimate Edition". And then see that graph split in to "legally bought and paid for" and "dodgy pirate copies". I bet that "legal" branch will be a thin sliver.

Actually - the legal licences would then need to be split into "actually paid for ultimate" or "using the Ultimate licence from an MS Action Pack \ MSDN \ etc subscription"

Okay - here at [H] - hands up who actually *paid* for Ultimate? :D
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PAID? Nope. Vista was free, I had a couple copies from Microsoft, plus one from the launch party (and Office 2007 Pro). Windows 7 was from MSDN. I did pay for Windows XP Pro, though. And Windows 98SE. 2000 Pro, too. Windows 95 I borrowed from work. Windows 3.11 came with my PC (last OEM PC I ever bought).
 
Those clients who ask me to "crack software" or "install pirate software" I just tell them to get the kids to go ram raiding in town and steal it. The stolen copy would work so much better.

"Saving money" with pirate software can turn round a cost a lot further down the line... I can understand a home user wanting to do it, but when a Business is running on pirate software it starts to get a little silly!
 
Cobra said:
The number one pirated product I see come in is Office though. I would not be over-exaggerating to say that 9 out of 10 customers that need windows reloaded either:

Say they thought office was part of windows
Say that office came with their new laptop provided free from the OEM
Say they don't know where they got office from
Say they can't find their product key email or box but insist they bought it
Say they had a friend or family member buy and install it for them

None of them can believe office costs a minimum of a couple hundred dollars.

I have these conversations several times a day.
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Well, there was a deal last year for Office Pro 2013 for $9.95, a little questionable but the keys were legit, straight from MS via digitalriver.
 
what gets me, isn't the big activation bypass for win7 offline anyway since it just fakes the bootloader? what stupid thing are you doing that you are activating online anyway?

also my win7 ult is legit, but paid for? nope, last 3 OS's have been from microsoft launch parties. however for them that turns around to if i like the OS i'll buy a bunch and roll it out into the office.
 
BlueMeanie said:
I would love to see a graph of "Installed copies of Win7\Vista Ultimate Edition". And then see that graph split in to "legally bought and paid for" and "dodgy pirate copies". I bet that "legal" branch will be a thin sliver.

Actually - the legal licences would then need to be split into "actually paid for ultimate" or "using the Ultimate licence from an MS Action Pack \ MSDN \ etc subscription"

Okay - here at [H] - hands up who actually *paid* for Ultimate? :D
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I paid for it...via an MS campus program when I was a grad student ($7 for Win 7 ultimate, $8 for Office 2010 enterprise).
 
BlueMeanie said:
I would love to see a graph of "Installed copies of Win7\Vista Ultimate Edition". And then see that graph split in to "legally bought and paid for" and "dodgy pirate copies". I bet that "legal" branch will be a thin sliver.

Actually - the legal licences would then need to be split into "actually paid for ultimate" or "using the Ultimate licence from an MS Action Pack \ MSDN \ etc subscription"

Okay - here at [H] - hands up who actually *paid* for Ultimate? :D
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I'm heavily leaning towards this for building an in-laws pc as I can't find a local copy of windows 7 of any type, in portuguese.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I hated that back in the XP era. I had at least one PC a week with that problem. Someone installed a cracked copy of XP, and eventually it said it was illegitimate. After making sure it was not a false positive, I had to tell them the bad news. The most common response - "can you crack it again so it works and I don't have to pay?".
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Some people expect something for nothing and as they say "there's always a catch" or as my great aunt used to say "if they say there's no strings attached, there's chains attached"
 
Robstar said:
I'm heavily leaning towards this for building an in-laws pc as I can't find a local copy of windows 7 of any type, in portuguese.
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This link is a legal link to legally download the Windows 7 ISOs.
http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/14-windows-7-direct-download-links

Scroll down and you will find Portuguese. As long as you match the Home Premium or Professional bit to the key, then a US English key should work fine.

This page is also handy if you have a Win 7 install disk and need to reinstall as you can go straight to Win 7 plus service pack 1 plus updates saving a lot of time.
 
One from TechNet, two OEM and one from Microsoft.

Okay - here at [H] - hands up who actually *paid* for Ultimate? :D
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If there are a lot of pirated activations coming off of one IP then it most likely is a comp repair place or private individual doing installs on the side.
 
I think paid Windows and Office will go the way of the buggy soon. The profit transition will be towards charging for Cloud storage integrated into Windows and some sort of ad support and/or more robust app store integration.
 
I'm embarrassed that so much attention is given to figuring out how to most effectively perpetuate a monopoly. If this was any year prior to 1980 in our country the discussion about MS would be very different imo.

WPA itself is the abomination, given MS's essential lock on the world's desktops. If and hopefully when internet traffic is reclassified as a utility, it will become evident they practically control 95% of the world's access to it, like Google and internet searches. There is and will be nothing left to do but force some internet-capable version of Windows (doesn't matter which, even XP or 2K will work) to open source. MS already did the same with .NET.

I'd never blame any company for following their best interest, imo it's unfortunate we've been spoiled by treating the internet as an "information service", whatever that might be. But when correctly viewed as a utility, the corporate totalitarian model for access (and search etc) is no longer viable. It doesn't and can't fly in most other countries, and I wish it didn't in mine. Instead most of us are tripping over each other trying to protect it. Obviously MS have a right to monetize their products, but in their monopoly position they're effectively removed from the free market and continue to be dictators of their own revenue. Or IOW next month they're ending mainstream support for that ancient and now completely useless OS called Win 7. Because 7 is really far from 10.
 
JeffDC said:
I'm embarrassed that so much attention is given to figuring out how to most effectively perpetuate a monopoly. If this was any year prior to 1980 in our country the discussion about MS would be very different imo.

WPA itself is the abomination, given MS's essential lock on the world's desktops. If and hopefully when internet traffic is reclassified as a utility, it will become evident they practically control 95% of the world's access to it, like Google and internet searches. There is and will be nothing left to do but force some internet-capable version of Windows (doesn't matter which, even XP or 2K will work) to open source. MS already did the same with .NET.

I'd never blame any company for following their best interest, imo it's unfortunate we've been spoiled by treating the internet as an "information service", whatever that might be. But when correctly viewed as a utility, the corporate totalitarian model for access (and search etc) is no longer viable. It doesn't and can't fly in most other countries, and I wish it didn't in mine. Instead most of us are tripping over each other trying to protect it. Obviously MS have a right to monetize their products, but in their monopoly position they're effectively removed from the free market and continue to be dictators of their own revenue. Or IOW next month they're ending mainstream support for that ancient and now completely useless OS called Win 7. Because 7 is really far from 10.
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Would you rather they have given it away fro free thereby giving them total control?
 
IMO it's a very rare case of eminent domain. Normally no one should be forced to give up private property, but the fact is Windows is the sole internet portal for 90+% of the world. If you think the situation is sustainable in our country or even acceptable in most others, you haven't been reading enough.
 
Steve said:
Microsoft has filed a complaint at a federal court in Washington accusing person(s) behind an AT&T subscription of activating various pirated copies of Windows 7 and Office 10. The account was identified by Microsoft's in-house cyberforensics team based on suspicious "activation patterns."
Click to expand...

My question is who would still be activating Microsoft Office XP (version 10)???
 
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