Bonum Certa Men Certa

Spyware-Centric Microsoft Hopes to Corner or Round up GNU/Linux Users for More Surveillance, Domination Over Use

"These procedures allegedly included helping the NSA to bypass encryption on the Outlook.com email client; providing the FBI and the NSA with easier access to SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service, and helping the NSA to boost their capability threefold to intercept video calls made via Skype."

Source: Edward Snowden claims Microsoft collaborated with NSA and FBI to allow access to user data



Summary: Microsoft's unprecedented assault on privacy now targets rivals of Microsoft, not just people used by Microsoft

THERE is something worth noting amid all that Microsoft-manufactured hype about its NSA-centric spyware. There is this ‘article’ which looks like a Microsoft advertisement from UBM, encouraging GNU/Linux users to choose Microsoft as their host. How inane. As we pointed out yesterday, Microsoft wants to expand surveillance beyond Vista 10 (even to predecessors) and do the same to GNU/Linux by becoming a host of GNU/Linux instances. And let's not put aside all the spyware Microsoft tries to put in Android (even if by patent extortion and/or entryism). It is definitely something to avoid by all means. Windows, in this age of many devices ('smart' phones, tablets, boards and "IoT" hype), is gradually slipping away to minority market share. Linux is becoming the dominant platform (kernel at least), not Windows. Looking at tuxmachines.org statistics, in the first week after Vista 10's release Vista 10 share was at 0.0471%. A week later: 0.092%. Based on the past 2 days’ tuxmachines.org statistics, Vista 10 might finally break a barrier and reach 0.1% by week’s end! That's hardly a success story, especially considering the lowered cost of Windows (Microsoft does this due to pressure from GNU/Linux).

"What we wrote a year ago about Vista 10 becoming a monstrous surveillance machine (despite Snowden's revelations) turned out to be correct."Microsoft gives 'free' spyware (Vista 10) to Raspberry Pi 2, after Raspberry Pi was targeted by Microsoft along with other such projects that typically choose GNU/Linux and BSD. Microsoft already eavesdrops (audio/video) on many GNU/Linux users through Skype, but it wants more. The abusive monopoly is hungry for personal, sensitive details. In this age of rising snitchocracy, intercepted secrets are an asset. Ask GCHQ why it intercepted videos (which is still retains) of millions of people, including over 100,000 people masturbating in front of their webcam (codename "Optic Nerve").

Judging by this new post titled "Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled", Vista 10 is malicious spyware even if you disable everything that is associated with spying. What we wrote a year ago about Vista 10 becoming a monstrous surveillance machine (despite Snowden's revelations) turned out to be correct. Many businesses, as it increasingly becomes more evident (and provable), would blatantly violate agreements with customers if they stay with Microsoft.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Estimates of Microsoft Layoffs: 3,000 Staff to be Culled Just in Gaming, How Many in Other Divisions?
Now the XBox division has its own "fall guy", but it is a woman
Straw Man Arguments Against Rust
If anything, it teaches the importance of auditing packages
Tesla Debt Rose Sharply, Sales Declined, Wall Street's Claim of Tesla "Value" is Merely a Fairytale (and Not Just Tesla)
We would gladly sell land on Mars to anyone who honestly believes a company that loses money is somehow "worth" trillions in Wall Street
Stop Calling Losses "Investment"
XBox is losing money, it is a sinkhole
For Justice We Need More Speech, Not Less Speech
When you attack something you are just giving that something a bigger platform
SLAPP Censorship - Part 107 Out of 200: Keeping Law Accessible to Everybody
We'll have stories related to this in the future
Links 15/06/2026: Slop "Beg Bounties", Wall Street Fakes 'Worth', and Arkansans Saved PBS
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Dating Oaks, Simulation, and Theremin
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 14, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 14, 2026
Links 14/06/2026: Energy Cost and Reality Strikes at Heart of Slop Bubble, 75 Data Center Build-outs "Successfully Blocked"
Links for the day
Microsoft CEO Says XBox is Not a Sustainable Business
"Now, we have to turn this into a sustainable business," he said about XBox
MElon (MUSK, Elon) is a Trillionaire Like Penguins Are Mammals
Have media outlets told the truth?
Unlikely Heroes
One personal hero who is not alive (anymore) is Navalny
Bruce Schneier Was Probably Wrong About Slop
Right now politicians who openly speak in favour of slop are committing "political suicide"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 106 Out of 200: 100 Kilograms of Legal Papers
When one party's communications and filings weigh at about 3 KG of paper and another's... at about 100 KG of paper
Links 14/06/2026: More Google Layoffs, Wall Street Deems Companies That Lose Money "Worth" Trillions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2026: "The Universe is a Hologram", "Matrix Brain Download", and "Happy 0th Year"
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Battistelli's "Baltic Crusader"
Gilles Requena, Battistelli's erstwhile "Baltic Crusader" and the loyal servant of his successor Campinos
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 13, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, June 13, 2026
Links 13/06/2026: University of Nottingham Confirms Data/System Breach, Courts Fuming at Fraudulent Lawyers Who Fling LLM Slop at Them
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/06/2026: World Cups and 做人
Links for the day
Microsoft's XBox "Bloodbath" Seems to Have Already Begun (Informally), Studios Allegedly to Face Shutdowns, Layoff Notices Handed Out, 100% Layoffs in Some Cases, 10% in Others or on Average
So is a complete closure/shutdown imminent? (Compulsion Games in this case)
Discussing Morale at IBM and Conversations Regarding IBM Layoffs (Disguised as Other Things)
Trolling can be a form of censorship
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: All the President's Men
Gilles Requena,Patrice Pellegrino, and Sandro Mendonça
SUEPO Elections Coming Up, Union Leaders at Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) to be Determined Soon
The staff union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) is having an election soon
SLAPP Censorship - Part 105 Out of 200: When Bad Legal Advice Results in Your Client, Dale Vince, Ordered to Pay £600k - or 801,930 United States Dollar (USD) - to the Person Frivolously Sued (Lord Bailey of Paddington)
"A judge has ruled that Dale Vince must pay punitive costs to Lord Bailey of Paddington, the Tory peer, over the 'unexplained abandonment' of his" SLAPP
How Long for Can American Taxpayers Justify Bailing Out Microsoft?
How many times need the American taxpayers give Microsoft money for vapourware that's neither necessary nor delivered?
IBM is Importing/Exporting Corporations' Regime of Censorship (Hiding the Wrongdoing) to Free Software Communities
Is IBM protecting criminals in the name of "manners"?
Links 13/06/2026: Microsoft’s XBox Crisis and "Apple Deepfakes"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/06/2026: Why Humans Are Mostly Right Handed and "Getting Things Done"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 12, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, June 12, 2026