China is well known to rapidly make copies of anything under the sun, its no surprise that it’s the country where software piracy is at its peak.

We covered a few weeks back on how there are just 244 licenses registered in China Now to curb with is issue, software giant Microsoft is deactivating unauthorized copies of its Windows operating system, in a nation where 82% of all software is pirated – even if many end users do not know it. The deployment of Windows Genuine Advantage in China has sparked outrage from computer users all over the country. If a validation test is failed, the software changes the desktop background to a black screen every 60 minutes and displays constant warning messages. Chinese internet users have reacted with fury after Microsoft launched an anti-piracy tool to combat the widespread sale of fake software. People have flooded blogs and bulletin boards to complain it violates their right to privacy .

Dong Zhengwei, a Beijing lawyer claims in the China Daily that Microsoft’s action could even be illegal under Chinese law. He calls the company the “biggest hacker in China with its intrusion into users’ computer systems without their agreement or any judicial authority”.

Microsoft in its defense says that its goal is to “help our customers to determine (if) genuine software is installed on their computers,”