Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Promotes Internet Explorer Using Lies That It Spreads to Africans

Summary: Microsoft markets its Web browser as the "secure" option with the help of another MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)

Africa is receiving a lot of attention this week because of the World Cup. Here for example is the news about the choice of Free software to power the official Web site:



More World Cup news: The South African government is using the open source Drupal CMS to run its World Cup 2010 website.


A couple of months ago we showed that Microsoft decided to advertise Internet Explorer with "security" as the selling point. It was right there in the official Web site. As part of the PR campaign, Microsoft also employed the same trick as Sevenwashing with a children-safe Web browser. It was a PR response which we covered here (the context being that Microsoft had not patched Internet Explorer properly for five months [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12], so it then attacked Google's reputation). According to Ghabuntu, Microsoft is using similar tricks in Ghana right now. As the author puts it, "Microsoft spreading Internet Explorer in Africa under new guise!"

"Ghanaian based internet service provider, BusyInternet, and Microsoft Anglophone West Africa (MAWA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide internet users with modern software security.

"The software, known as Microsoft Internet Explorer Eight (IE8), enables users to take full control over who can and cannot track their activities, ensure adequate peace and security; and provide regular update of personal information."


What Microsoft does here is dangerous because it puts the population in greater danger. It's like when the Catholic church tells Africans not to use condoms because the condoms, it argues, would make the population less secure. The thing about Microsoft is, it knows how to lie with apparent honesty, as long as it serves its own selfish goals, so there is a resemblance here.

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”

--Andre Gide



Stop AIDS
Sign in Ghana

Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
 
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: Game Recommendations, Schizo Language
Links for the day
Growing Older and Signs of the Site's Maturity
The EPO material remains our top priority
Did Microsoft 'Buy' Red Hat Without Paying for It? Does It Tell Canonical What to Do Now?
This is what Linus Torvalds once dubbed a "dick-sucking" competition or contest (alluding to Red Hat's promotion of UEFI 'secure boot')
Links 20/11/2024: Politics, Toolkits, and Gemini Journals
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: 'The Open Source Definition' and Further Escalations in Ukraine/Russia Battles
Links for the day
[Meme] Many Old Gemini Capsules Go Offline, But So Do Entire Web Sites
Problems cannot be addressed and resolved if merely talking about these problems isn't allowed
Links 20/11/2024: Standing Desks, Broken Cables, and Journalists Attacked Some More
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: Debt Issues and Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban
Links for the day
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar), Magna Carta and Debian Freedoms: RIP
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar) & Debian: from Frans Pop to Euthanasia
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
This Article About "AI-Powered" is Itself LLM-Generated Junk
Trying to meet quotas by making fake 'articles' that are - in effect - based on plagiarism?
Recognizing invalid legal judgments: rogue Debianists sought to deceive one of Europe's most neglected regions, Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Google-funded group distributed invalid Swiss judgment to deceive Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: BeagleBone Black and Suicide Rates in Switzerland
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 19, 2024