There has been lots of gnashing of teeth in the media and in forums over the weekend concerning the updated EULA for a part of Windows 10. Following some wording changes, headlines began to appear screaming out that Microsoft had granted itself permission to trawl through your computer, disabling counterfeit software and hardware.
"Prevent you from accessing… counterfeit games"
The turmoil and excitement was due to Redmond updating Section 7b of the Microsoft Services EULA with the following paragraph:
"Sometimes you'll need software updates to keep using the Services. We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices. You may also be required to update the software to continue using the Services."
The above was taken by many reports to be a change to the license governing the whole of Windows, the MSLT (Microsoft Software License Terms). Reports and comments slated Microsoft for preparing to poke around user systems to detect and disable counterfeit games, apps and hardware willy nilly. Alphr reported that "if you use Windows 10, a Windows phone, or any of Microsoft's other services, Redmond can disable any games you've pirated or devices you've unlawfully hacked".
However the change is only relevant to Microsoft Services. The changes thus pertain only to stuff such as Xbox Live, Windows Store content (pictured above), Office 365, Skype and so-on (scroll to bottom of this page to see complete list). Microsoft has been doing similar monitoring of Xbox titles on the Xbox console for a long time, blocking pirated game copies, hacks and certain peripherals. It is not going to start monitoring your general software and hardware usage outside of these types of walled-garden services it provides.
