PayPal repels Reg reader over piracy refunds
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Headed in the wrong direction A disgruntled Reg&lt;/e&gt; reader got in touch with us because he'd unwittingly bought some counterfeit X-box games on eBay.â¦
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Blog: Entertainment company says vendor breached terms of license agreement.
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Some users of PayPal are having trouble logging onto the site and are getting security warnings -- problems apparently tied to an SSL security certificate used by Omniture, which is gathering data for the online payment site.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has blamed an unspecified server problem for a 19-hour stretch during which paying users of Windows XP and Vista were accused by the company's WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) validation system of running pirated software. Any Vista system fingered during the episode was stripped of some features, including the operating system's Aero graphical interface. As of Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT, Microsoft said the problem had been fixed. "We are aware it is a server-side issue," said Phil Liu, a Microsoft program manager in the WGA group. "[But] the cause is unknown at this current time." "Customers who received an incorrect validation response can fix their system by revalidating on our site," said Alex Kochis, senior product manager of WGA, in a blog posting. The site Kochis referred to is the Genuine Microsoft Software home page, which includes links to validation tests for Windows and Microsoft Office. "After successfully revalidating, any affected system should be rebooted to ensure the genuine-only features are restored," Kochis continued. The validation server snafu began sometime prior to 8 p.m. EDT on Friday, when users started posting messages on Microsoft's support forums, including Vista Validation Issues, saying that their PCs had been tagged as running nongenuine Windows. Overnight, the number of users adding their accounts to the tale spiked significantly, as did the frustration index. "What in hell is going on, Microsoft?" asked a user named Hedgemeister. "SUPPORT? Where are you? Validation issues with Vista. Hello? All of us need help," wrote Gnrlbzik. "This is an absolute disgrace. Treating legitimate customers like criminals is a great way to make people want to buy your software in the future! [I'm] absolutely disgusted," added Costanza. Although copies of both Windows XP and Vista were being tagged as counterfeit during the 19 hours, users of the latter were especially incensed. The WGA antipiracy scheme for that operating system disables several features when it thinks the copy is bogus, among them the Aero graphical user interface and ReadyBoost. Early in the outage, several Microsoft customers posted what they said was the text of e-mail they had received from Microsoft support that suggested users sit tight for several days. "I'm sorry to inform you that the Windows Genuine server might be down for few days," the e-mail, attributed to Microsoft Technical Support, said. "I have escalated the issue to our Genuine team, kindly try to validate again on Tuesday 28 Aug 2007." If the message was intended to mollify users, it didn't work. "TUESDAY!?! Yeah, f that," said Nooaah. It wasn't until Saturday around 1 p.m. EDT that a non-anonymous Microsoft manager offered up information. "I guarantee that we're working on this issue right now," said Liu in a post to the forum. "My goal is to identify a FIX for this issue -- afterwards get you all what you are looking for, an explanation and cause. I promise I will have an explanation and resolution as soon as humanly possible." Users' testy relationship with WGA Although Microsoft did not identify the number of affected systems Saturday, based on the user comments and Liu's promises, it appeared to be systemwide. If so, it would be the biggest problem so far in the developer's contentious WGA program. Designed to spot pirated copies of its Windows and Office software, WGA has been mandatory since mid-2005 before nonsecurity updates or files can be downloaded from Microsoft's site. WGA has faced criticism almost since its inception, but until Friday, the most vocal complaints dated back to June 2006, when users discovered that the Windows XP version of WGA was "phoning home" to Microsoft every time the PC was booted. Those critics returned when Microsoft upped the ante with Vista by replacing the WGA messages that only nagged XP users suspected of running counterfeits with a new policy that used an RFM (reduced functionality mode) to cripple machines. In RFM, only Internet Explorer works, and then for just an hour at a time. Because RFM only allows a grace period of three days to those who previously activated Windows but are subsequently deemed pirates, any problems must be fixed quickly to prevent customers' PCs from going dark. Microsoft managed to beat the deadline. That, however, didn't mean much to some, who said this was it for their relationship with the vendor. One claimed that he was heading out the door to buy a Mac, while others swore they would switch to Linux. Others called on Microsoft to ditch WGA. "Once again the legitimate person gets screwed while the people who pirate software probably aren't even affected," said Mark in the support forum. "This whole validation process should be dropped. This is just another nail in the Microsoft coffin." Saturday's outage was not the first time the validation service has gone dark and then identified all PCs connecting with the servers as running pirated copies. In October 2006, Microsoft's Kochis acknowledged a similar blackout. "Earlier this week, a server on the back end of the WGA service experienced a bug that resulted in a temporary outage. As a result, some systems were incorrectly flagged as being non-genuine, and we want to confirm for those who contacted us about this that it was indeed an error," he wrote.
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Online payment processor PayPal said it would fine customers as much as &#36;500 if they violate the company's policies against using the service for gambling, pornography or selling prescription drugs without official certification.
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The just-launched Priceprotectr.com sends e-mail alerts when prices drop. You may be eligible for a price protection refund.
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By Ben Goldby; James Green  Internet shoppers in the West Midlands have been warned to be on their guard after an investigation into eBay found the popular auction site is a prime target for counterfeiters.
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By James Derk Scripps Howard News Service  Another episode of reader mail hits the books today. Let's get right to it.  Question: I was surprised that my security software was automatically renewed on my credit card without my permission.
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Plus: eBay outlines policy on racist language. [News.com Extra]
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Tell us how you see the RIAA's attack on the mild reforms in the Fair Use Act. Is the organization protecting consumers? In GadgetLab.
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Resellers are accused of selling products with fake Certificate of Authenticity labels.
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An online store for Viliv media players accused of not delivering the goods is reportedly not refunding the money they promised. In Gadget Lab.
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Outages put a crimp in access at PayPal, Gawker. Also: Microsoft's latest security warnings.
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Slammed for touting unavailable but unlicensed content
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People who received MP3 players as holiday gifts may want to steer clear of some Web sites that claim to offer legal music but don&#39;t have licensing agreements with major music labels, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said.CDT, a consumer rights group, has published a list of more than 30 MP3 download sites that don&#39;t have licensing deals with major U.S. music labels. The sites, which charge between $20 and $35 for subscriptions, say they offer music from artists signed to the major labels, CDT said.Consumers should be aware of the sites on the list because in some cases, they may simply provide subscribers popular peer-to-peer (P-to-P) software that&#39;s otherwise free, said David Sohn, CDT&#39;s senior policy counsel. And customers using P-to-P software to trade unauthorized music files could face lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), he said.&quot;People might get the false impression of what they paid for was legal,&quot; Sohn said. &quot;If you pay $25, you might think that $25 goes to compensate the rights holder.&quot;The CDT tried to contact the operators of each site on its MP3 warning list. In each case, the site operators did not respond.Several of the sites on the list seem to be run by the same people -- they have similar designs and make similar claims. In many cases, the sites are registered outside the U.S., Sohn said.Some of the sites hedge their claims of being legal in small print. For example, AllCoolMusic.com, which says it offers 12 billion files, includes a disclaimer at the bottom of its front page: &quot;Today, there are 240 million users trading MP3s on legal file-sharing networks. Sharing is not illegal as long as you obey all relevant copyright laws. Sharing copyrighted material, without permission to do so, is illegal. Purchasing a membership in AllCoolMusic.com does not give you license to download or upload copyrighted material. AllCoolMusic.com implores you to respect all copyright laws.&quot;AllCoolMusic didn&#39;t respond to CDT&#39;s letter, and there&#39;s no contact information readily available on the site.In March 2005, CDT filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against two Web sites claiming their music and video downloads were 100 percent legal.The FTC filed a complaint in U.S. court against one of the Web sites, mp3downloadcity.com, obtained an injunction, and eventually reached a settlement with the Web site operator in May 2006. The settlement required the site to refund customers.The RIAA has focused its lawsuits on P-to-P users that share music with others, not those that simply download music from P-to-P networks. However, if subscribers to these sites would opt to share their music on the P-to-P software some of the sites provide, that could expose them to lawsuits, Sohn said.In many cases, users of the sites are &quot;getting less than you pay for,&quot; he said.
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. There should be an MS tax, no there shouldn&#39;t... (Score:2, Insightful). OK, colour me not
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PayPal has launched a new promotion offering five free tracks from the iTunes Music Store. You can now use PayPal to securely and easily buy music from the massive iTunes catalogue, including lots of exclusive tracks and videos.