Bonum Certa Men Certa

US State Department Attacks Free Software on Microsoft's Behalf (Updated)

Secretary of State



Summary: In Thailand as well as other parts of Asia, the American politicians help Microsoft battle against the adoption of Free/libre software that offers benefits to Asian nations

SEVERAL months ago we showed that the US State Department was helping Microsoft attack GNU/Linux and Free software adoption in Vietnam. This is part of Microsoft's influence in Asia through diplomatic affairs. It's a corruption of the system. Previously we wrote about what Microsoft had done in Thailand under the following posts:





As a quick reminder, Bill Gates is very close to the Clintons. He even absorbs some of their staff (e.g. to write his speeches) and according to this leaked cable from the Wikileaks Web site, "State Dept brings US IT companies to Thailand to criticize OpenSource..."

Quoting the relevant parts:

--------------------------------------------- -------------- IPR: Concern Over Open Source Software and Data Protection --------------------------------------------- --------------

€¶9. (SBU) Microsoft-Thailand's Corporate Affairs Director identified software copyrights as a big issue. On the one hand, he praised the Thai government (RTG) for strengthening its IPR enforcement and education efforts, and said Microsoft was "very pleased" that Thailand's software piracy rate has decreased by two percent a year since 2006. On the other hand, he expressed concern over the RTG's Creative Economy policy of promoting the "open source" software model over the "commercial source" model as a means to curb piracy. (Note: this is an issue for IT

CHIANG MAI 00000018 003.2 OF 003

companies worldwide, and not unique to Thailand).

€¶10. (SBU) The Business Software Alliance (BSA) Director for Software Policy-Asia also urged the RTG not to favor open source over commercial source. He argued that (1) the open source model has been shown to have an insignificant impact on reducing software piracy; and (2) by focusing on an open source policy, the RTG signals the market to stunt the development of commercial source software, which in turn undermines Thailand's ability to fully service market needs.

€¶11. (SBU) The BSA rep also emphasized the importance of having a strong data protection regime that is aligned with the international regime. He said Thailand's current low global ranking in legal/regulatory environment is a disincentive to foreign investors. Passage of a date protection law would improve the country's standing. While recent efforts to introduce such a bill in Parliament are encouraging, the current draft needs improvement. The BSA rep recommended the RTG participate in APEC's data privacy working group in order to learn more about international best practices and develop its draft legislation accordingly - a path the Philippines recently followed with good results.



We also uncovered what they had done in the Philippines (in the links above), but more recently we saw even worse things [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Update: After writing this post we looked for some more examples based on leaks from the past week. There's a whole load of them. To quote some dents I made:

[12:27] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] "Klyuchnikov briefed on Microsoft's and BSA's ongoing IPR outreach campaign in the regions" http://ur1.ca/4z3pa #bsa #ukraine #lobbying

[12:29] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] In #spain - Microsoft's own propaganda (own 'studies') cited to exaggerate the 'threat' of 'piracy' http://ur1.ca/4z3pe politicians misled.

[12:29] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] In #egypt too - #Microsoft coopts the government for protection http://ur1.ca/4z3pk

[12:31] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] "Microsoft estimated that the GOE conducts 150 raids a month against software pirates." http://ur1.ca/4z3pm attacking own users in #egypt

[12:31] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] "Microsoft Egypt described its relations with Egyptian enforcement authorities as "fruitful and long-term"" http://ur1.ca/4z3px

[12:36] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] "Microsoft was hoping to reengage with the government soon." http://ur1.ca/4z3qd #ukraine

[12:37] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] "Microsoft has noted improved cooperation with the GOT" (Government of #tunis ) http://ur1.ca/4z3r2

[12:41] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] "representatives form the U.S. Embassy, Microsoft.. organized Trainings of Trainers on Microsoft's Unlimited Potential" http://ur1.ca/4z3r6

[12:42] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] Who needs marketers and lobbyists when taxpayers fund them? #microsoft #statedept

[12:44] [Notice] -TRIdentica to #techrights- [schestowitz/@schestowitz] It's great, isn't it? US taxpayers are forced to give portion of their wage to people who go around the world lobbying for Microsoft profit.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The 'Culture Wars' in Free Software Have Gone Out of Control
Social control media amplifies such utterly infantile discourse
10 Out of 10: RMS Attracts Massive Audience in Göteborg, Sweden (All Seats Occupied, Some People Standing)
a 55-second clip of his talk
The Lawsuit by Clients of Brett Wilson LLP Against Brett Wilson LLP is Officially On, It is Progressing, The 'Experts' Pick Outside Law Firms (RPC and Mills & Reeve) to Spare Them From Litigants in Person
So it is probably quite potent
Slopwatch: Plagiarism and "Linux" Articles by Bots
Sites that do this won't survive; many of them rely on slop services (suppliers) that will cease to exist after the bubble bursts
 
Geminispace is Very Large
The word continues to spread and the number of participants grows
Teaser: To Compensate for the Fact Our Clients Are Terrible Human Beings Who Strangle Women (While on Microsoft's Payroll) and We Get Paid by Mystery Parties We Bombard You and Your Wife With Almost 10 Kilograms of Legal Papers
If you can't win an argument, then drown the other side with papers?
Another Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, This Time During National Day Holiday
This time it's China again
Staying Happy in Times of Crackdowns on Civil Society
Optimism in this sort of "new reality" or "new normal" seems like something for the irrational person
"Nobel" Exploited Posthumously for "AI" Hype, Now They Do the Same With "Quantum"
ere have been many jokes about "Nobel" for peace (often granted to pro-war people) and a fake one for "Economics" (establishment propaganda)
Distinguished Lecture by Richard Stallman This Coming Monday in Rome
After "Free software, Crucial for Freedom in a Digital World"
Links 10/10/2025: Putin Admits Russia Downed Azerbaijan Airlines Jet, More New Heat Records
Links for the day
Noteworthy Claim That IBM is Firing a Lot of Lawyers This Week (RAs in the Legal Department)
A lot of what they do is patent 'trolling' or lawyering up against their own staff (e.g. HR disputes)
Links 10/10/2025: US Judge Bars Attacks by ICE On Journalists and Protesters; “We Took The Freedom of Speech Away” Says the President
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually