Summary: The NSA comes under a wave of litigation again, this time in France and the United States, but the real target of litigation should be conspirators and facilitators of NSA surveillance (like PRISM kickstarter Microsoft)

OVER THE years we have stressed that Microsoft pays CBS, which owns and runs Microsoft-friendly (by design) sites like ZDNet and CNET. To demonstrate how deep this relationship runs consider the notorious NSA propaganda that CBS aired in December and mind this new article from Tim Cushing. As Cushing points out, Microsoft and the NSA are very close, going beyond eavesdropping on Skype and into back doors (access to files) inside the operating system used by most people.

Hayden, who helps connect the NSA with the even more notorious CIA (and himself has a bad reputation even among former CIA analysts [1]), is said to have been sort of been tied to Microsoft in this case. As Cushing said, "I'm sure this is the last (mostly inadvertent) tie-in the software giant hoped to see rolling out to CBS News' 2.8 million followers. Microsoft has tried hard to distance itself from the image of "willing surveillance participant" in the past several weeks. It has issued statements about valuing customer privacy even as news has surfaced about it handing over pre-encryption access to the agency for several of its most popular products, as well as newer acquisitions like Skype.

"But the way CBS pitches it, the message comes across as Microsoft supporting Hayden's claims that Snowden is a traitor. Unfortunate to be sure, but not entirely unbelievable."

The NSA leaks have done an enormous damage to Microsoft and in the coming few quarters we'll begin to see it. In 2012 we noted that with Microsoft providing NSA access to international calls (eavesdropping on Skype users) it stands on iffy legal ground. The NSA has just been sued in France [2-7] and the ACLU is suing the NSA for spying on international calls [8-15]. Maybe the ACLU should sue Microsoft too, for complicity at the very least. ACLU has already slammed Skype, but there might be Bill Gates moles inside and they like surveillance (they profit from it). ⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Gen. Michael ‘No Probable Cause’ Hayden

   To his credit, I suppose, President-elect Obama did get rid of Hayden – for cause, as I tried to explain in “What’s CIA Director Hayden Hidin’” on Jan. 15, 2009. I ended that article with the following expression of good riddance: “The sooner Hayden is gone (likely to join the Fawning Corporate Media channels as an expert commentator, and to warm some seats on defense-industry corporate boards) the better. His credentials would appear good for that kind of work.”





2. Fresh Snowden papers show NSA pirated underwater cable

3. French telecom operator Orange threatens to sue NSA over cable tapping

4. Headlines: Orange spying by the NSA: the company is doing civil party

5. Orange to take legal action after report of spying via its cable

6. Headlines: NSA has hacked a cable used by Orange

7. France Reveals New Case of US Espionage





8. ACLU Sues NSA For Details Of U.S. Surveillance Under Executive Order

9. ACLU sues government over international calls

10. ACLU sues government over international calls

11. ACLU sues for details of U.S. surveillance under executive order

12. ACLU sues administration over overseas U.S. surveillance

13. ACLU sues US for details of Executive Order 12333

14. Surveillance Records Injunction Requested by ACLU Complaint

15. Dell, Cisco 'Deeply Concerned' Over NSA Backdoor Exploit Allegations