Bonum Certa Men Certa

Hiding Behind Call Centre Staff and Contradictions/Lies (Lying to the Customers) to Protect Microsoft From 'Embarrassment'?

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 22, 2024,
updated Mar 22, 2024

90 hours later... no callback (Monday 8AM to Friday 2AM)

It's been an amazing couple of days running our third Hackathon event, in collaboration with Microsoft and Tata Consultancy Services. We saw more than 100 colleagues brainstorm, plan and create 15 amazing tech solutions addressing key challenges to our organisation right now and the future of retail. This year, we hacked three themes: 👾 Artificial Intelligence 💼 Careers 🔮 Future of Sainsbury’s Our hackathons offer the opportunity for our colleagues to take the best ideas and thinking from conception through to full solution, delivering innovative ways we can improve the retail experience in real-world applications, for our stores and our business. And finally, a huge congratulations to the winning team:

TODAY or tomorrow I'll publish a video that includes 3 recordings about what we believe to be Microsoft Windows TCO, or conversations regarding Sainsbury's and Sainsbury's To You [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] going 'offline' last weekend. I've been careful to document any speculation made in calls or posts, as I heard many contradictory statements from them. They told me they'd get back to me but didn't... then they said it can take up to 42 hours, then they said 72 hours. They keep giving totally contradictory statements of policy.

Very unprofessional.

I phoned to ask: 1) why no phoneback; 2) any NDA/Windows issues; 3) GDPR (UK) issues. So it was about quality of service, privacy, security, NDAs etc. There is overlap here with the Windows coverups, someone has said, as ransomware would not be an issue if they ran GNU/Linux at least not in its current state and even a few years of breathing room would save billions at least.

We ended up checking some details and it looks likely Microsoft works via TCS there (see screenshot at the top). Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) included? "All the articles at that link seem pro-Microsoft," an associate rightly noted (I had noticed the same thing), and TCS is probably a Microsoft reseller in this case. "Interesting," moreover is that "they actively block Tor Browser Bundle (TBB). Yep, TBB is blocked by Sainsbury's."

To me, the NDAs part is the most interesting. We want to see the nature of Microsoft NDAs and whether they're legal at all.

Secrecy has no place in a democratic society.

To take an example, Gitlab and GitHub both have financial issues (shares of Gitlab Inc fell 51.97% since the company started as "public"). According to Indian press, the staff at GitHub that Microsoft is getting rid of is made to sign Non-Disparagement Agreements (another kind of NDAs) on the way out.

While we could never find out relative (%) share of Gitlab and GitHub, it's not hard to see they don't do well financially and when staff is laid off they compel the staff to keep quiet or face unpleasant consequences.

"Non-Disparagement Agreements in exchange for severance is illegal in the US," Ryan has told me. "Plenty of employers still do it though because they're hoping the employee doesn't know that and keeps their mouth shut."

"Non-Disclosure Agreements are another matter though," an associate says. "And though non-disparagement clauses are illegal, they are still very, very common and keep people cowed."

We have reasons to suspect that Sainsbury's had an incident far more severe than the media is reporting. We'll cover the details in the next post on this topic. â–ˆ

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

On Groupthink, Mindless 'Sheep', and Toxic Online Cults
This week, treat yourself to a life free of social control media
BetaNews is Run and Written by Bots That Make Clickbait
At least one author is doing this
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part VIII
By Dr. Andy Farnell
GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High in Europe (at 6%)
many in Europe chose to explore something else, something freedom-respecting
 
Links 25/11/2024: Climate News, Daniel Pocock Receives a Fake/Fraudulent €17,000 Electricity Bill
Links for the day
[Meme] Microsoft: Our "Hey Hi" Hype is Going So Well That We Have MASS Layoffs Every Month. Makes Sense?
Contradiction
Latest Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Are Confirmed, Bing and Vista 11 Losing Market Share
They tried to hide this. They misuse NDAs.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 24, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 24, 2024
Gemini Links 25/11/2024: Purity and Cory Doctorow's Ulysses Pact, Smolnet Portal and SGI
Links for the day
Patents Against Energy Sources That Reduce Pollution
this EV space (not just charging) is a patent mine field and it has long been that way
DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, Howard Shrobe, Values Compartmentalisation But Loses the Opportunity to Promote GNU/Linux and BSDs
All in all, he misses an opportunity
Wayland is an Alternative to X
the alternative to X (as in Twitter) isn't social control media but something like IRC
BetaNews, Desperate for Clicks, is Pushing Donald Trump Spam Created by LLMs (Slop)
Big clap to Brian Fagioli for stuffing a "tech" site with Trump spam (not the first time he uses LLMs to do this)
[Meme] Social Control Media Bliss
"My tree is bigger than yours"
Links 24/11/2024: More IMF Bailouts and Net Client Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/11/2024: Being a Student and Digital Downsizing
Links for the day
Techrights' Statement on Code of Censorship (CoC) and Kent Overstreet: This Was the Real Purpose of Censorship Agreements All Along
Bombing people is OK (if you sponsor the key organisations), opposing bombings is not (a CoC in a nutshell)
[Meme] The Most Liberal Company
"Insurrection? What insurrection?"
apple.com Traffic Down Over 7%, Says One Spyware Firm; Apple's Liabilities Increased Over 6% to $308,030,000,000
Apple is also about 120 billion dollars in debt
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 23, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 23, 2024
[Meme] GAFAMfox
Mozilla Firefox in a state of extreme distress
Google Can Kill Mozilla Any Time It Wants
That gives Google far too much power over its rival... There are already many sites that refuse to work with Firefox or explicitly say Firefox isn't supported
Free (as in Freedom) Software Helps Tackle the Software Liability Issue, It Lets Users Exercise Greater Control Over Programs
Microsofters have been trying to ban or exclude Free software
In the US, Patent Laws Are Up for Sale
This problem is a lot bigger than just patents
ESET Finds Rootkits, Does Not Explain How They Get Installed, Media Says It Means "Previously Unknown Linux Backdoors" (Useful Distraction From CALEA and CALEA2)
FUD watch
Techdirt Loses Its Objectivity in Pursuit of Money
The more concerning aspects are coverage of GAFAM and Microsoft in particular
Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day