Microsoft heeft toegegeven Windows XP Beta CD's te hebben voorzien van een uniek nummer om zo te kunnen traceren welke beta-testers hun verkregen beta's doorspeelden aan warez-traders. De OEM en release-versie van Windows XP heeft deze 'pirate-tracker' overigens niet in zich.
"Yes, as other posters have surmised, [we used UUIDs] to track down leaky beta testers," Microsoft's John Gray told Gibson. "There are a number of people no longer participating in the beta because they were directly traced to deliberately leaking builds. However, disclosing the existence of the tracing technology simply means that we will no longer be able to remove such people from the beta as easily. Many beta sites complained over and over about the warez kiddies getting builds. Well, this is one thing we did to try to stop the leaks."