[Kenny]

David Morgenstern
02/19/2004

Microsoft Corp. is warning the online community to keep its hands off purloined Windows source code.

The company on Tuesday confirmed it had sent legal warnings to some persons who it said had downloaded the stolen code from the Internet.

Source code from Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 was posted on the Internet on Thursday, and Microsoft Corp. said at the time that it had initiated internal and external investigations.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft declined to specify the contents or the distribution of its warning message. But according to a report filed on Steven Bink's and Ryan Hoffman's Amsterdam-based Bink.nu site, Microsoft warned at least one recipient that he was in violation of copyright laws.

"The unauthorized copying and distribution of Microsoft's protected source code is a violation of both civil and criminal copyright and trade secret laws," Bink.nu quotes the notice as reading. "If you have downloaded and are making the source code available for downloading by others, you are violating Microsoft's rights, and could be subject to severe civil and criminal penalties."

The letter then demands that persons in possession of the source code stop sharing the code, destroy copies and inform Microsoft of the origin of the copy.

Bink said the recipient of the letter had downloaded the leaked code through a peer-to-peer network that had automatically shared his copy. Microsoft traced him through that channel, he said. Microsoft sent the letter to his Internet Service Provider, which then forwarded the e-mail message.

The legal message continues: "Microsoft takes these issues very seriously, and will pursue legal action against individuals who take part in the proliferation of it source code. We look forward to your prompt cooperation. Should you need to contact me, I can be reached at the address above"

Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla confirmed that the company had sent out the cease-and-desist notices since the Windows code began appearing on Thursday, but he declined to provide any further details.

"We are obviously taking all appropriate legal actions to protect our intellectual property," he said.

Besides the illegal receipt of copyrighted materials, persons downloading the source code?especially developers?could face other problems,, legal experts said. Individuals examining the Windows code could face charges of trade-secret violations and infringement of software patents.

Original Article:

[Buluemoon]

Yes indeed, they seem to be pretty upset.

[FiNaLBeTa]

ring0, on Feb 19 2004, 02:27 PM, said:

already... winxp kernel xpl0it on the air... billG [M$] must be panic!

lets fwd. a condolence [of STUPIDITY] to secure@microsoft.com (O;

You know what that kernel exploit dos? It's pretty uselees, you need admin axx to use it.
Anyways, rase you're hand if you don't have the code on youre hardrive;...
I don't think they can stop it. Actually, i'm sure.

[flame]

now lets hope they dont catch all 23,000,000 people that has it .
it could be a disaster :)
now seriuos:
if i had downloaded it but didnt know it was real, then saw it was real then erased it (who wants this crap anyway) - now does this illeagel ?

[Kenny]

Well it was bound to happen...there will be some legal writs flying all around the world as i write

[Dillinja]

All the more reason to clamp down on anyone posting snippets of code here IMO.

[phase]

What I would love is if someone who had the code found some open source code in there. Code that was maybe listed under the GPL.

Then they could possibly have to open it all of it.

But I agree it was bound to happen. I am really suprised this hasn't happened before

phase
:ph34r:

[JohnDoe69]

phase, on Feb 20 2004, 11:43 PM, said:

I am really suprised this hasn't happened before

I'm pretty sure is has, IIRC it was dude to Micrsoft making a mistake and leaving their private FTP stuff open to all, even if it was only for a few hours....I think this is the slashdot for the news entry, not sure..it was a while ago.

[MessyR]

As soon as this was released on the Warez scene it was untracable. :)

Dont be silly and get it from P2P ;)

[THoRaX]

microsoft is angry for sure :rolleyes:
they can't stop it.. alot of people have this code, and they'just can't do anything about it