Microsoft Corp., whose software runs most of the world’s personal computers, admitted Sunday that its latest version of Windows generates a unique serial number that partly is planted within electronic documents and could be used to trace the authors’ identities.
In a disclosure with enormous privacy implications, Microsoft also said it is investigating whether it is collecting the serial numbers from customers even if they explicitly indicate they didn’t want them disclosed.
A programmer, Richard M. Smith of Brookline, Mass., noticed last week that documents Smith created using Microsoft’s popular Word and Excel programs in tandem with the Windows 98 operating system included within their hidden software code a number unique to his computer.
The 32-digit Windows number also appears in a log of information transmitted to Microsoft when customers register their copies of Windows 98, even if they say they don’t want details about their computers sent to the company.
