Bonum Certa Men Certa

Next on the Agenda: Researching Cablegate

Julian Assange homepage
The Homepage of Julian Assange



Summary: A quarter of a million diplomatic cables, many of which secret or classified, are released to supply Techrights with exclusive and important stories to cover

In the years 2008 and 2009 Techrights got a lot of mainstream coverage owing to Comes vs Microsoft exhibits that we had uncovered and explained. We expect to have a lot more to reveal now that Wikileaks has fully uploaded and decrypted its stash of diplomatic cables from all across the world, spanning many decades.



As noted a few minutes ago, 60 GB of compressed diplomatic cables are now out in their complete form. We have begun studying the material and over the course of the coming year we hope to show/demonstrate government kowtowing and misconduct that affect the industry. Yesterday for example we found this:





 



€¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: To bridge the digital divide between the India's high-tech urban centers and its vast rural hinterland, Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) is working with the GOI and state governments to establish Internet Technology (IT) connectivity in 100,000 villages around the country. Pilot and developed programs from this project are already being initiated in parts of East and North East India. Microsoft is also working with other U.S. corporations such as Intel, Dupont, United Telecom and Hughes Telecom to supply hardware and software. As part of its eGovernance plan, the GOI hopes that a wired rural India will lead to better citizen services and more employment opportunities. Microsoft considers this effort a good business model for bringing about rural connectivity as well as providing critical public services in underdeveloped parts of India. Microsoft India Vice President Tarun Malik and Project Manager Vineet Garg emphasized that this program is intended to be self-sustaining and commercially viable. The company stressed that this is not part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program as CSR initiatives can cripple the self-sufficiency of the recipients if not managed properly. This effort to bring IT connectivity in East and Northeast India appears to be well coordinated and looks to offer great potential for improving local government services and for enhancing rural IT connectivity. End Summary.







This raises all sorts of questions. For example, why are US politicians involved in this and why is Microsoft given all this leeway? Can't Indians provide their own software? India has its own GNU/Linux distribution. This nicely relates to the Tamil Nadu debacle we wrote about in recent days. We are starting to see damage control now that some documents are leaked and public scrutiny is mounting. See today's article titled "It Was Management's Decision To Drop Linux From Tender":

The Tamil Nadu government has dropped the provision of Linux operating system (OS) due to a management decision, said Atul Anand, managing director, Electronics Corporation Of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT).

In a brief conversation with EFYTimes.com, Anand said, “It was purely a management decision to do that. However, if the users want, they can always download Linux and use it.”

Probably, the issue is not as simple as it is projected by the ELCOT. The decision has invited a lot of criticism for the government body as well. The state government has been criticised by the open source community for saying “No” to Linux for its 9.1 lakh free laptops.


As before, we encourage our readers to learn about Microsoft influence in the Indian government and also read what was based Comes vs Microsoft exhibits:



Cablegate is out and Microsoft is not going to like it. Among those who tried to derail Wikileaks was one who is close to Microsoft.

Some people have expressed their willingness to help Techrights study these issues together and we are gratified to learn that some of these people have already downloaded the whole of Cablegate (which also has many online mirrors with search facilities). Those who are eager to help us out (it's a monumental task, but a truly rewarding one) can help turn raw material into clear articles with worldwide attention, so please join us in any of our IRC channels. This is where we coordinate most things (real-time, unlike blog comments).

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
 
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, Planet Ubuntu, Anti-Linux FUD, and Microsoft SPAM
It's not easy to altogether avoid take articles these days
Gemini Links 06/06/2025: "MBA Tear" and Slop ('AI') as Plagiarism
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2025: "Convicted Felon and MElon Trade Insults" and Europe Snubbed by US Again
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2025: Microsoft XBox Bracing For More Mass Layoffs, Climate Disaster, Fake 'Money' Tokens From US President
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/06/2025: Vanishing Cultures and MElon Implosion
Links for the day
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day