Bonum Certa Men Certa

Very Bad Reporting or Deliberately Shallow Media Coverage After Microsoft Windows Hands Hospitals Over to Crackers

Many people die while media plays a face-saving PR-like role (not acting like a fact-finding investigator)

What media tells you about besieged hospitals; What actually happens



Summary: Microsoft and its proprietary software (including Windows) kill a lot of people in hospitals and the media does more 'damage control' (misdirecting blame for Microsoft) than actual journalism and fact-finding

THE previous part and the introductory one spoke about how Microsoft quite likely killed more people than COVID-19 has killed so far. The media rarely reported on these things after they had happened; and when it did mention incidents, it typically said nothing about the role of Microsoft software, notably Windows. There's a cover-up. That's a problem. It prevents medical facilities, especially hospitals, from exploring better choice of tools, including software tools.



"I found the federal reporting website," one source told us, "which I think I told you about, and looked into a dozen cases."

“I decided to write about the things that most shocked me, both as an employee and as a patient.”
      --Anonymous
It's about known incidents being reported. "Ultimately," the source argued, "I decided to write about the things that most shocked me, both as an employee and as a patient."

The source spoke of "shuttered emergency room, the maternity ward, doctors sent home, the Trump-like lockdown with threats against anyone who dared talk, the staff panic..."

There are gagging efforts. Nobody is allowed to speak to anybody. There are threats.

Also, "what little actually leaked out," the source told us, "and the fortune teller-like experience given to patients to try to cover the fact that the hospital lost everything. The response was to lock out Microsoft competitors."

Having studied some press coverage about this, the source said the articles "target the patient experience and create some false impressions. It implies that hospitals have an effective records system and that hackers don't have patient information."

“A records blackout is a disaster - the doctor has to depend on the patient's memory and records.”
      --Anonymous
Citing one particular article (we try not to give clues about sources, e.g. locations), the person said "the main false impression is that the hospitals have some sort of backup system that works, which is complete bullshit. The article implies that the cut-off is limited to patient scheduling systems, that what the patient experiences on the phone or in person at the hospital does not mean the doctor has no way of looking up your prescriptions or medical history."

And it gets worse...

"That's designed to hide the main life-threatening implications of these attacks" on Windows, we were told. "Electronic medical records systems promised "meaningful use," timely access to information that improves patient care. A records blackout is a disaster - the doctor has to depend on the patient's memory and records. There are no paper records and there's no way to get electronic records from "the cloud" when the network is completely shut down as it is. Nothing works and the backups and replacement servers are destroyed as soon as they go live until the criminals are paid off, because all of it uses the same crappy software and the ransomware takes over every Windows desktop on the network."

The attacks go even further, we're told, having been presented with some supportive evidence.

"The second false impression [from media coverage] is that the hackers don't have copies of patient records."

“Any reasonable person would look at the situation and assume the criminals have copies of the records and have added them to the thriving privacy violation and blackmail market dominated by banks, government, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and other PRISM partners.”
      --Anonymous
There's one particular article that shows this. "This article hits the key phrases I've seen in lots of articles," the source said, "[such as] "no evidence" of exfiltration. In reality the ransomware people have complete control of the hospital records and probably have them weeks or months before they start demanding ransom money. This is a lie with a purpose. In the US at least, incident reporting is required when records are improperly accessed. The law is generous as it is, giving the business months to respond, but it requires individual patient notification and posting to a public, federal list of shame."

Then there's this analogy. "It reminds me of Chernobyl operators insisting that radiation levels after the accident were no higher than their pegged indicators because they did not know the actual level," we were told, "so had no evidence of anything higher. Any reasonable person would look at the situation and assume the criminals have copies of the records and have added them to the thriving privacy violation and blackmail market dominated by banks, government, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and other PRISM partners."

In the next part we'll provide some more details about responses, cover-ups, misreporting, victim-blaming and so on.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Generation Chaff - Phase V: Censorship of Dissent (Painted as Harassment or Terrorism)
Censorship is all around us now
Generation Chaff - Phase IV: Apps Only Few Companies Decide On
Tools are being collectively confiscated, under the premise or false prospect of "security"
Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
 
analytics.usa.gov: The Only Supported Version of Windows (This Past Week) is Only Used by About 13.9% of People in the US, the Home Base of Windows
Even Vista 7 is still used more
Rust is Very Secure
If only Rust itself is secure
Who Will be Held Accountable for Breaking Ubuntu by Imposing Rust on Otherwise-Functional Programs, in Effect Replacing GNU With Proprietary Microsoft (GitHub)?
they're practical people who merely point out that a bunch of buffoons not only ruin Ubuntu but also every future distro based on Ubuntu
Generation Chaff - Phase VIII: In Summary
Like "Science" with a capital "S", what we see here commercial interests usurping everything
Generation Chaff - Phase VII: Curtailing Alternative Media
There was always an obligation - a collective duty of sorts - to uphold independent journalism
Generation Chaff - Phase VI: Centralisation of Information (X, Cheetok/Fentanylware)
Would you trust information when controlled by such people?
Generation Chaff - Phase III: Slop and Plagiarism
A lot of the current so-called 'economy' is built upon false valuations
Generation Chaff - Phase II: "Cloud", Blockchains and Other Hype
For those of us who turned down those propositions there was a struggle; we needed to justify not having skinnerboxes or "social" accounts in some site run by a private company
Generation Chaff - Phase I: Social Control Media
IRC predates the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 23, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 23, 2025
More Clues Shed on Collapse of Microsoft XBox
XBox is basically circling down the drain as Microsoft implements 2-3 waves of layoffs each month
'Vibe Coding' Doesn't Work
In a lot of ways, so-called 'Vibe Coding' is already considered vapourware or a passing fad promoted in the media by managers who try to justify mass layoffs, especially ridding companies of "very expensive" software engineers
Links 24/10/2025: Microsoft's Killing of XBox Connected to Revenue/Profit Problems, "How Elon Musk Ruined Twitter"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/10/2025: 86,400 Seconds and "Society's Task"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)