Re: Microsoft and MACs

["Paul Rickard" <boycott@usa.net>]

From:           	Wandered Inn <esoteric@denali.atlnet.com>

> I have to apologize, as I've not followed this thread completely, but
> based on previous posting in reference to registering the MAC, it
> appears to me that this value certainly could not be unique, based on
> the number of NICs in the field.  This being the case, how could it be
> used to track someone?  I am totally ignorant of this MAC identifier. 
> Could someone please enlighten me?

	The I-triple-E mandates that NIC manufacturers use some complicated 
process to ensure that cards (at least ones made for Ethernet) don't 
have identical hardware addresses. The odds of getting two cards with 
duplicate MAC addresses is one in a half billion or so, according to 
the last book I had that mentioned it (published in mid-1998).


===== Paul Rickard, President of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign. =======
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