Bonum Certa Men Certa

Huffington Post Lets Microsoft Lie and Lie and Lie







Summary: The Huffington Post is becoming filled with top Microsoft employees who use the publication for their lobbying that relies upon lies

A PUBLICATION is heading in the wrong direction when it decides to give room for convicted offenders to speak out, and moreover to spread a lot of lies. Yesterday we wrote about what was happening in the Huffington Post, whose accommodation of the whole Gates family adds an affiliation with white-collar criminals. As the screenshots above show (all from January), this has become a disturbing pattern. A few days ago, Microsoft's Smith started lobbying Obama for almost-warrantless snoops and last night we included a link that shows the Obama administration defending the FBI's violation of laws amid a snooping scandal (which the EFF is suing over). Microsoft's lobbying for more of it is a subject we wrote about earlier and guess who is helping Microsoft by giving them a platform? That's right, the Huffington Post.



“As the screenshots above show (all from January), this has become a disturbing pattern.”Gates, Ballmer, and Smith, all of whom happen to have also personally paid Obama, just treat the Huffington Post like it's their blog. Microsoft's new lobbying blog attracts very poor readership, so it would not serve them as much as this Huffington Post placement where Microsoft is being extremely dishonest. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, says: "Modernization of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act so law enforcement has the tools it needs to go after malicious hackers and deter instances of online-based crimes;..."

Over at Groklaw, Pamela Jones replies by saying: "How about Microsoft improves its software instead, so it isn't so easy to break in? Or simpler, how about when Microsoft is informed of a security problem in its software in September, or August, it doesn't wait to fix it until Google and other companies are hacked into by means of that very security breach in January? And how would a US law stop Chinese hackers? Really, just fix your software, please. That really would help a lot more than local laws."

Jones refers to the recent Internet Explorer fiasco [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], which cost a lot of money, caused a lot of suffering, led to diplomatic tensions, and was caused due to Microsoft's utter negligence [1, 2, 3].

It brings us back to the Huffington Post. Why would they want to support systematic liars and spinners? This is not healthy to readers.

“Really, just fix your software, please. That really would help a lot more than local laws.”
      --Pamela Jones
Gates is deliberately lying about Free software and spreading the illusion that it is naturally unfit for business. Such FUD is having an effect. This press release from a few days ago says: "GPL licence with a level of service usually associated with commercial business software..."

What are they trying to say? That GPL and "commercial business software" are contradictory? This is partly the result of Microsoft indoctrination, although Microsoft is not the only company responsible for this FUD.

The Gates Foundation is a self-serving financial vehicle which Digital Copyright Canada has just accused of engaging in "pseudo-philanthropy" which is "actively involved with making a variety of "teaching" (sharing of knowledge) expensive and/or illegal."

You forgot the real issue here, which is that Bono, Gates and similar pseudo-philanthropists are actively involved with making a variety of "teaching" (sharing of knowledge) expensive and/or illegal. This is the core of what Bono is ranting about this time, suggesting the world's governments should go as far as the human rights violations in China to (theoretically -- no proof of "benefit") grant him more money.

There are those who think that making knowledge scarce, including criminalising private citizens owning and controlling their own communications technology, is the only way to make it possible to pay authors/inventors for their important contributions to society.


The scary thing ought to be that Gates is even controlling educational systems now. See for example:

  1. Bill Gates Puts in a Million to Ratify His Role as Education Minister
  2. How the Gates Foundation is Used to Ensure Children Become Microsoft Clients
  3. More Dubious Practices from the Gates Foundation
  4. Microsoft Builds Coalitions of NGOs, Makes Political and Educational Changes
  5. Microsoft's EDGI in India: Fighting GNU/Linux in Education
  6. Microsoft's Gates Seeks More Monopolies
  7. Gates Foundation Funds Blogs to Promote Its Party Line
  8. Microsoft Bribes to Make Education Microsoft-based
  9. Lobbyists Dodge the Law; Bill Gates Lobbies the US Education System with Another $10 Million
  10. Gates Investments in Education Criticised; Monsanto (Gates-Backed) Corruption Revisited
  11. Latest Vista 7 Failures and Microsoft Dumping


What will Gates teach our children about Free (as in freedom, not zero-cost) software and sharing?

"There's free software and then there’s open source... there is this thing called the GPL, which we disagree with."

--Bill Gates, April 2008

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
 
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day
LLM Bots vs Techrights
Slows things down a bit
New Publication Sheds Lights on Abuse of Workers at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Put in simple terms, they're killing the Office, harming remaining staff, try to hire rubber-stampers
Links 21/07/2025: Hardware, Health, and Imperialism
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/07/2025: "When Buying Isn't Owning" and "CMS Special Edition"
Links for the day
Links 21/07/2025: Indie Web and Toxic Politics
Links for the day
[Meme] Microsoft Lawyers Throwing Stones in Glass Houses
threatened me with bankruptcy
Google "AI Overview" is Not AI and Not Overview
do not be misled; what Google does isn't smart, it's just ripping off the sites it already crawled for as long as 27 years
Making the Case to Dump Microsoft and GAFAM for National and Digital Sovereignty
"Sovereignty is difficult"
The Tactics of the Opposition (Microsoft Lunduke): Associate With K00ks, Throw in Vaccines to Muddy the Water
Who stands to gain from this?
Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) and Largest Patent Monopoly Office Needs More Transparency, Not Less Transparency
In the EPO, what good are elections when one candidate literally bribes all the voters?
How Not to Report News About Microsoft
This pattern of misreporting is so widespread that it's hard to believe it's not intentional
Computer Science is Under Attack, They Want Everyone to be a Consumer
If people can no longer acquire Computer Science education and real Computer Science experience, they will not know how to control their own digital destiny or emancipate the very same universities that now control the syllabus and instead of teaching Computer Science encourage the outsourcing of systems
The Best Tools Are the Simplest Tools
There's a hidden message here about the merits of sticking with X
Ofcom Online Safety Group Speaks of Protecting Women Online, Will Brett Wilson LLP Ever Listen?
They've essentially became like the Taliban's "burka police"
Social Control Media Relies on Advertisers, So It'll Always Be Hostile Towards Free Software
Sales, sales, sales
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 20, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 20, 2025
Fragmentation of Data
Life is too short to "hoard" data
In Defence of "Spinning Rust"
Just because something is "old" (or older) doesn't mean it ought to become extinct
Using Free Software to Prepare Legal Documents
LibreOffice is openly complaining about OOXML as an obstacle
Tech and Technology Are Not the Same Anymore
"Are you into tech, Sir?"
Our Articles About SLAPPs Receive Recognition and Interest
This week we shall continue writing about the 3 lawsuits we filed