THE spyware which is Skype has been getting a lot of negative publicity in recent weeks. It is now confirmed that Skype helps spying on users on behalf of those in power. To make matters worse for Microsoft, it now turns out that Microsoft also helps surveillance of citizens using cameras. To quote: "The Microsoft-powered police surveillance system being installed in New York City is an impressive bit of innovation: It connects a wide variety of technology already in use by the New York Police Department in a way that gives police a powerful new tool in preventing and solving crime.

"Microsoft hired people for a sort of PR campaign that portrays Microsoft as privacy-respecting, but it's all just part of a shameful lie.""The system, dubbed the Domain Awareness System (DAS), sounds like science fiction: Part Minority Report, part 1984. It connects thousands of security cameras in the city owned by the NYPD and private businesses, collecting and archiving up to 30 days worth of their archival footage at a time.

"Meaning: If there’s a crime committed, police can use the system to see the crime but also backtrack, easily following the movement of people involved in an incident before it even occurred. It can do the same for vehicles, which can also be tracked by law enforcement’s smart license plate readers."

The timing could not be much worse. Wikileaks has just shown leaked proof of CIA-connected surveillance state companies; this is a private/privatised industry. Microsoft's new mate, Amdocs, is part of this industry (intercepting phone calls and storing some]).

Microsoft hired people for a sort of PR campaign that portrays Microsoft as privacy-respecting, but it's all just part of a shameful lie. Techrights has many examples where Microsoft was caught violating people's privacy in very gross ways. The same thing happens in Russia or India and often it's done in collaboration with inane, scared (one might say "paranoid") governments. ⬆