Consumer and privacy groups criticized the US government on Tuesday for failing to limit certain features on Microsoft Corp's new Windows XP operating system that they say compromise users' privacy.
Privacy groups, led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should have taken action when they filed their first complaint this summer.
The complaint, signed by 13 organizations, alleges that the new operating system coerces users into revealing sensitive personal information with little control over how that information will be used.
In the face of government inaction, several groups said Tuesday that consumers should take pains to avoid signing up for Microsoft's Passport online identity service when they upgrade to Windows XP, which is due out in the US today.
Passport aims to streamline online browsing and shopping by consolidating passwords, credit-card numbers and other personal information.
Microsoft has already signed up 165 million users, many of them through its free Hotmail e-mail service. Users are encouraged repeatedly to sign up for the service when they set up Windows XP.
Microsoft says Passport will give Web surfers more convenience and control over what information they reveal about themselves, but EPIC and others charge that it will allow the world's largest software maker to amass a giant database of millions of Internet users who have little control over how information about them is distributed.
Activists point to a spate of recent hacking incidents to claim that Microsoft databases are also vulnerable to intrusion.
EPIC and other consumer groups want the FTC to investigate whether Passport amounts to an "unfair and deceptive trade practice" under federal law.
The willingness of the consumer-protection agency to investigate these claims "is a critical test of the FTC's ability to protect consumer interests in the online world," said EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg in a conference call.
An FTC spokeswoman said she could not comment on any ongoing investigations, but said she was not aware of any investigation into Passport or Windows XP.
"It hasn't crossed my radar screen, and that's pretty significant," said Kathy McFarland.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company had already addressed the consumer groups' concerns.
"There's not a whole lot new here except for recycled complaints, and Microsoft has addressed these complaints and continues to address these complaints," said Microsoft spokeswoman Tonya Klause.
Since first unveiling XP early this summer, Microsoft said it would make Passport more open to other companies and require online merchants using Passport to employ P3P technology, which allows consumers to more easily determine the privacy practices of a Web site.
But those changes are not enough, privacy groups said.
A central point of dispute is the Windows XP registration process, which asks users five separate times if they would like to set up a Passport account. Privacy groups want that process changed.
Jason Catlett, president of privacy group Junkbusters Corp, said consumers should not be led to believe that they must sign up for Passport in order to access the Internet.
"Microsoft is not the lord of the Internet, however much they claim to be," he said. "My advice is just say no, no, no, no, no."
Catlett and others stopped short of calling on consumers to boycott the new operating system, which boasts increased stability among its many new features.
But consumers should not be forced to give up their privacy in order to enjoy a computer that crashes less often, he said.
"Consumers shouldn't have to weigh four blue screens of death per week versus having their privacy violated," he said.
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