Q: What information is collected from my computer?
A: The genuine validation process will collect information about your system to determine if your Microsoft software is genuine. This process does not collect or send any information that can be used to identify you or contact you. The only information collected in the validation process is:
* Windows product key
* PC manufacturer
* Operating System version
* PID/SID
* BIOS information (make, version, date)
* BIOS MD5 Checksum
* User locale (language setting for displaying Windows)
* System locale (language version of the operating system)
* Office product key (if validating Office)
* Hard drive serial number
Q: How does Microsoft use this information?
A: The information serves three purposes:
* It provides Web page flow, tailoring the pages you see based on your responses.
* It conveys demographics, which help Microsoft to understand regional differences in Windows or Office usage.
* It confirms user input. User input is often compared against data collected from the PC in order to determine whether to grant a user’s request for additional access.
I was shocked they did not learn from what happend to Sony. Maybe this will help convince people that the evil Redmond empire is not in their best interest.