I complained to the BBC about their failure to mention to mention Windows in the article that you quoted above.

Today, I received their reply:

“Thank you for your e-mail to the BBC News website.

We did not state that the infected PCs were all Window’s machines, as we
were unable to confirm that fact with Microsoft. In most cases, it is
safe to assume that Windows machines make up the majority of a botnet.
However, non Windows machines have been known to be used particularly in
the command and control systems of botnets and therefore we could not
categorically state that every machine ran Windows. ”

Gotta love it! They wouldn’t say they were Windows because Microsoft hadn’t told them if they *could* say that!

And what does “non Windows machines have been known to be used particularly in the command and control systems of botnets” supposed to mean? That the bad guy who controls the botnet might be using some Linux machines to pull the botnet’s strings? That hardly makes them part of the botnet, IMHO.

Free speech advocates should be alarmed about this apparent grant of censorship that Microsoft has been given. To take down any site that has user feedback, all an attacker has to do is program botnets to spam the site and run to a federal judge for the order. This is a double insult to people who run IRC channels, forums and other community services, much like RIAA posting of their own material to file sharing networks.