H/T: Thomas

Some very interesting news coming from Radio Free Asia on regulations forcing Chinese internet cafes to switch from Microsoft XP to Red Flag Linux (a Chinese produced system).  Officials promoted this as an effort to crack down on pirated software but the move has angered cafe owners who were not happy with the 5,000 yuan licensing fee.

My thoughts:

1. A response to the recent Black Screen of Death incident.  However, if this is only required for internet cafes, it won’t make a dent in the problem. Just doesn’t make much sense.
2. Trying to force internet cafes to close down.  Chinese officials aren’t very fond of the cafes and the extremely high licensing fee could be a way to force them out of business.
3. As per the article, better monitoring.
4. Forced on China by our good friend Eastwood, who owns massive shares in Ubuntu.

From SC Magazine on new Microsoft worm:

Microsoft rushed out the emergency patch on the 24th October, however the Wecorl worm has now been circulated. Kevin Haley, a director with Symantec’s security response team, claimed that the worm may have originated in China as it appeared to target Chinese language versions of Windows 2000.

New reader Cherry points out that not everyone in China is raging over the infamous “black screen.”  Some Chinese users are showing a sense of humor about the whole situation by creating desktop spoofs.

The official Microsoft black screen comes with the tag-line, “You are possibly the the vicitim of pirated software.”

The spoof reads, “I am possibly the beneficiary of pirated software.”

Below,”Black Screened?”

The program seen above is a patch for the Microsoft “black screen of death” and was written by a female Chinese hacker group at the Guangdong Foreign Language, Foreign Trade University (Guangdong Foreign Studies University).

The patch keeps Chinese users, who are running pirated copies of Microsoft Windows, from having to refresh their computer screens every hour when the black screen pops up.

The Chinese hacker program was released on 15 October, five days before Microsoft’s pre-announced plan went into effect (Jumper, is this possible?).  The black screen seems to have been a mere annoyance, designed by Microsoft to encourage people to purchase legal copies of Windows.  It does not effect the computer’s ability to function.

From the comments I have read on a few boards, this does not seem to be one of the programs written to spread malware.

The website for the group that released the patch is here.  The message attached to the download reads as follows:

“Excuse me Bill Gates, this time, I must once again oppose all of you [Microsoft]. I can’t let you introduce chaos into the Chinese system again for no good reason! For many years now, people have stolen Windows and just this year you decide do something about it? That is stupid!!

We are not the military but we have the same mission, to protect the sovereignty of the Chinese network.”

A few interesting comments on the boards you might like to read.  Don’t have the time to translate, so I give you the Google xlations.  No, they aren’t 100% accurate but they will give you the feel of the conversation.

Something to take note of, not all of the Chinese users are onboard with the “hate Microsoft theme.” There are a number of dissenting voices, saying that stealing intellectual property is wrong.  Good for them!

Update (jumper 1543GMT OCT 26):  The site hosting the anti-anti-piracy patch is overloaded:

The cartoon above, from china.com.cn, shows a big hand in the sky with the Microsoft Windows logo holding a sword reading, “Attacking pirated software.” The thief running away at the bottom reads, “Sellers of pirated software.” Of course the guy in the chair is the “innocent” user.  Right.

The article that accompanies the cartoon, suggests that Chinese users might be just as much a victim of software pirates as Microsoft.  Cough.  Since Microsoft is using patch updates to cause the “black screen of death,” it might be better to visit third party sites for patches.  However, warning, hackers are using these types of sites to pass along malware.

No one has asked my opinion on this subject but I’m going to share it with you anyway.  Why? Because I’m in a really bad mood, it’s 4:20 am and I want to vent:

A guy comes to sell you a stolen lawn mower that you know belongs to your neighbor.

How do you know it belongs to your neighbor? It has his name etched right into the damn thing.

How do you know it was stolen? Because you were looking to buy a stolen lawn mower; you weren’t willing to pay full price.

Problem, this is a special lawn mower and will only run properly with fuel from your neighbor (Microsoft updates).   So, when needed, you decide to steal the fuel yourself.

Your neighbor discovers that you are using his stolen lawn mower and have the unmitigated gall to also steal his fuel.  He starts leaving out tainted fuel for you to steal but this screws up “your” lawn mower.  Boy are you pissed.

Yes, it is a horrible analogy.  It’s early…very early.

UPDATE: At least one Chinese user agrees with me, sort of.  His only concession however is to stop stealing the fuel.

Question: How long will it take for Chinese hackers, in a fit of moral outrage, to attack every website associated with Microsoft? 5…4…3…2…

An angry Chinese lawyer accused Microsoft of perpetrating the biggest ever hacker attack in response to the software giant’s controversial move to trigger hourly screen blackouts on computers using pirated copies of Windows XP. [Cast your vote]

On October 20, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer of Beijing Zhongyin Law Office, sent a complaint to China’s Ministry of Public Security, accusing Microsoft of invading personal computers without user permission or judicial authorization, the Beijing Times reported.

Dong said the judiciary should assign criminal responsibility for the Windows Genuine Advantage Program so called “Black Screen” scheme and halt this “illegal move”.

To fight software piracy Microsoft announced on October 15 that, starting October 21, Microsoft anti-piracy software would be automatically installed on users’ computers through the routine Internet-based update mechanism. If a computer fails a validation test, the desktop will change to a plain black background when the computer is restarted.

Read it all, Microsoft accused of hacking attack.