FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.7.0"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0-b147)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0-b17, mixed mode)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Windows 7 [Version 6.1.7601]  64-bit

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
When I configure my country as Canada in the Windows 7 64 bit control panel,
Locale.getDefault.getCountry reports it as USA, in JDK 1.7.  It works fine under
JDK 1.6.  System.getProperty("user.country", "n/a") also reports USA when it should report Canada.

REGRESSION.  Last worked in version 6u26

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/locale.html for a listing of TestLocale.java
SSCCE

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
see http://mindprod.com/locale.html for a listing of the output/expected output.

ACTUAL -
see http://mindprod.com/locale.html for a listing of the output/expected output.

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
none. It just reports the wrong country.


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
/*
 * [TestLocale.java]
 *
 * Summary: Get the Locale.
 *
 * Copyright: (c) 2011 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products, http://mindprod.com
 *
 * Licence: This software may be copied and used freely for any purpose but military.
 *          http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
 *
 * Requires: JDK 1.7+
 *
 * Created with: JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA IDE http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/
 *
 * Version History:
 *  1.0 2011-08-21
 */
package com.mindprod.example;

import java.util.Locale;

import static java.lang.System.out;

/**
 * Display the Locale
 *
 * @author Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products
 * @version 1.1 2011-08-23 add Lew Bloch's requested extensions, display of user.country and setDefault.
 * @since 2011-08-21
 */
public final class TestLocale
    {
    // -------------------------- STATIC METHODS --------------------------

    /**
     * display fields of a Locale
     *
     * @param l    the Locale
     * @param desc description of the Locale
     */
    private static void showLocale( String desc, Locale l )
        {
        out.println( desc );
        out.println( "display:" + l.getDisplayName() );
        out.println( "country:" + l.getCountry() );
        out.println( "ISO3:" + l.getISO3Country() );
        out.println( "display country:" + l.getDisplayCountry() );
        out.println( "language:" + l.getLanguage() );
        out.println( "display language:" + l.getDisplayLanguage() );
        out.println( "user.country:" + System.getProperty( "user.country", "n/a" ) );
        out.println( "user.language:" + System.getProperty( "user.language", "n/a" ) );
        out.println();
        }

    // --------------------------- main() method ---------------------------

    /**
     * Display current Locale
     *
     * @param args not used
     */
    public static void main( String[] args )
        {
        // various ways to get a Locale

        // demonstrates bugs in Windows 7 64-bit JDK 1.7 when country is configured in control panel as Canada.
        // user.country reports as US instead of CA
        // Locale.getDefault.getCountry() reports US instead of CA

        Locale defaultLocale = Locale.getDefault(); // browser/JVM default
        showLocale( "D E F A U L T", defaultLocale );

        Locale specifiedLocale = new Locale( "en", "US" ); // language/country
        showLocale( "N E W  E N  U S", specifiedLocale );

        Locale localeConstant = Locale.CANADA_FRENCH; // static final constants
        showLocale( "C A N A D A _ F R E N C H", localeConstant );

        Locale.setDefault( Locale.CANADA );
        Locale forcedDefault = Locale.getDefault();
        showLocale( "F O R C E D   D E F A U L T", forcedDefault );

        // Locale serverLocale = request.getLocale(); // in a servlet to get remote user's locale
        }
    }

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
User program must explicitly set the locale on every run.

I use it for example to select the user's preferred currency. They must now manually select it.