Bonum Certa Men Certa

Cablegate: Microsoft Attacks Free/Libre Software in Tunisia With a Ben Ali Deal, Conspiring to Also Spy on the Population

Cablegate



Summary: Gory details (given the revolution that came later) leak out through Wikileaks, which helps show how Microsoft does politics to impose user-hostile software on entire nations, defying their policies in the process

Found via the post "Microsoft et Ben Ali : Wikileaks confirme les soupçons d’une aide pour la surveillance des citoyens Tunisiens" was this very interesting diplomatic cable which sheds light on collaboration between two thugs, Steve Ballmer and Ben Ali. It not only shows Microsoft driving over Free software policies but it also shows Microsoft assisting the government's attack on the population, which later overthrew Ben Ali. Those who insist that software is not political can bury their heads in the sand or alternatively read the following Cablegate cable. We emphasise some bits of interest in it:










VZCZCXRO7019 PP RUEHTRO DE RUEHTU #2424/01 2651044 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 221044Z SEP 06 FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1903 INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0796 RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 7294 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1182 RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 0784 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1635 RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8221 RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY 0395 RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 3995 RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 002424

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG (HARRIS) AND EB/CIP STATE PASS USTR (BELL), USPTO (ADLIN AND ADAMS), USAID (MCCLOUD) USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/ONE (ROTH), ADVOCACY CTR (JAMES), AND CLDP (TEJTEL) CASABLANCA FOR FCS (ORTIZ) LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2016 TAGS: ECON TINT KIPR ECPS TS SUBJECT: MICROSOFT INKS AGREEMENT WITH GOT

€¶1. (SBU) Summary: During the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in South Africa July 11-12, the GOT and the Microsoft Corporation signed a partnership agreement that provides for Microsoft investment in training, research, and development, but also commits the GOT to using licensed Microsoft software. According to Microsoft Tunisia Director General Salwa Smaoui, the agreement is a win-win for both Microsoft and the GOT. The negotiation process and the brokered deal itself are illustrative of GOT priorities and the cost of doing business in Tunisia. End Summary.

€¶2. (SBU) The agreement between Microsoft and the GOT was signed in July during the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in South Africa. Although signed in July, information about the agreement has not been forthcoming from either the GOT or Microsoft and, despite repeated requests, Microsoft has yet to provide post with a copy of the final agreement. In a September meeting with EconOffs, Microsoft Tunisia Director General Salwa Smaoui provided an overview of the main points. The final agreement outlines cooperation on GOT e-governance, cyber security, intellectual property rights, and capacity development for Tunisian information technology programs. Microsoft will establish a Microsoft Innovation Center in Tunisia for developing local software production capacity by providing training and consulting services to software developers. Expanding the Tunisian IT sector has become a priority for the GOT as a way to absorb the growing number of unemployed university graduates. According to Smaoui, the GOT invests approximately one percent of GDP in research and development in the IT sector. Microsoft has also agreed to provide training to handicapped Tunisians to enable them to seek employment in the IT sector by telecommuting. (Note: President Ben Ali's wife Leila Ben Ali runs a charity for handicapped Tunisians. End Note.)

€¶3. (U) As part of the agreement, Microsoft will help the GOT to upgrade and modernize its computers and networking capabilities. In turn, the GOT agreed to purchase twelve thousand licenses to update government computers with official Microsoft software, rather than the pirated versions that have been commonly used, according to one Microsoft employee. Since 2001, the GOT adopted an open software policy, using only free software programs. Additionally, future GOT tenders for IT equipment will specify that the equipment must be Microsoft compatible, which is currently prohibited by the Tunisian open software policy.

€¶4. (SBU) The agreement also touches on internet security. Through a program on cyber criminality, Microsoft will train government officials in the Ministries of Justice and Interior on how to use computers and the internet to fight crime. As part of this program, Microsoft will provide the GOT with original source codes for its programs. When asked by EconOff whether Microsoft had any concerns about releasing its source codes, Smaoui replied that the source codes would only be available to a small number of officials. Nevertheless, the agreement contains language stating the Microsoft and the GOT will work jointly on intellectual property rights. This agreement also provides for a separate agreement to be signed creating a security cooperation program that will provide more general internet security training to the public.

€¶5. (C) According to Smaoui, the agreement is the culmination of a five-year negotiation process. Smaoui was named Microsoft's Director General for Tunisia about one year ago and, although currently hesitant to fully disclose the final details, provided frequent updates to Post on the progress of the negotiations. She reported that at times the GOT's suspicion of Microsoft because of its "American-ness" seemed to outweigh its technical evaluation of the proposal. She said that she had been asked several times by GOT ministers why, as a Tunisian, she was "working for the Americans," and often felt suspicion bordering on hostility during the negotiations. Smaoui also noted that the GOT wanted a

TUNIS 00002424 002 OF 002

"tailor-made" agreement, rather than a prepackaged program that would be "imposed" on Tunisia. This attitude towards the negotiation process required Microsoft to focus just as carefully on the presentation as the substance.

€¶6. (C) In a call on DCM a few days before the South Africa Forum, Smaoui worried that she was going to the Forum without a signed agreement in hand and could not confirm that the GOT's representative would even show up. She fretted that she might have to confess to Bill Gates that she had no reason to be at the Forum. In the event, Khedija Ghariani, Secretary of State for Computers, Internet, and Free

SIPDIS Software, attended and signed the agreement on behalf of the GOT. Despite the drawn-out negotiations, Smaoui stated that reaching an agreement was "vital" for Microsoft. The fact that the government relied on open source software drastically limited business in Tunisia and prevented Microsoft from participating in GOT tenders. Additionally, the agreement reinforces an objective both Microsoft and the GOT share -- establishing a knowledge society. Smaoui stated that even though Microsoft will be investing in Tunisia, the sum of investment will be lower than the cost of GOT purchases.

€¶7. (C) Comment: Although the agreement has been hailed as a triumph for intellectual property rights, the negotiations and the brokered deal itself reveal a more complicated reality. Microsoft was able to broker the final agreement by appealing to GOT unemployment sensitivities as well as by adapting to the realities of doing business in Tunisia. Even as the goal of expanding employment opportunities for handicapped Tunisians is worthy, the program's affiliation with Leila Ben Ali's charity is indicative of the backroom maneuvering sometimes required to finalize a deal. Microsoft's reticence to fully disclose the details of the agreement further highlights the GOT emphasis on secrecy over transparency. In theory, increasing GOT law enforcement capability through IT training is positive, but given heavy-handed GOT interference in the internet, Post questions whether this will expand GOT capacity to monitor its own citizens. Ultimately, for Microsoft the benefits outweigh the costs. End Comment. BALLARD







Citizens of Tunisia ought to sue Microsoft, which has "blood in its hands". Watch how they keep this secret from the public which pays for it. When they say fight "crime" they may actually mean fight dissent, too (which from the government's perspective is often a crime). Tunisia overthrew Ali. Now it needs to overthrow his ally, Microsoft.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
 
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH 2025 and Lagrange 1.19 Released
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: News Corp. WSJ and A Month With NixOS
Links for the day
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025