ITinfo: Microsoft Documents Secretly Track Author

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Microsoft Documents Secretly Track Author
by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Microsoft Corp. acknowledged that Windows 98 and other Microsoft applications, such as Word and Excel, automatically record the author of electronic documents and the computer on which the documents were created.

Richard M. Smith of Brookline, Mass., noticed last week that documents created using Microsoft's popular Word and Excel programs in tandem with its Windows 98 operating system inserted into documents a hidden 32-digit number that was unique to his computer.

This numbers, called a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), is unique to each PC. It is based on the hardware components of the system, including the Ethernet card, if it's present. Since many offices and home businesses use Ethernet cards for local area networking and high-speed Internet access, the GUID can trace a document back to its originator, even if the author strives to maintain anonymity.

Now, here's the real kicker for you privacy types. Your computers GUID was sent to Microsoft when you ran Win98's registration wizard. So Microsoft knows your PC's ID and they can trace documents you create.

"The impact is, if you have one of these tattooed numbers, you can extract the Ethernet address of the computer that created the document," said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp. of Green Brook, N.J., which lobbies on privacy issues.

Robert Bennett, Microsoft's group product manager for Windows, said today that the company will create a software tool to let customers clear the ID number from PCs. But too bad if you've already registered Win98 or created documents.

Microsoft Corp.
JunkBusters

Articles In This Series
Microsoft Documents Secretly Track Author
Microsoft To Help Users Remove GUID From Document
Win98 Security Bug More Serious Than Previously Thought
Microsoft Patches Win98 GUID Privacy Bug

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updated March 7, 1999
http://dgl.com/itinfo/1999/it990307.html