07.14.08
Gemini version available ♊︎Blast from the Past: Losing Your Job for Criticising Microsoft on Security
We mentioned Dan Geer several times before [1, 2] because he is said to have lost his job for legitimately criticising Microsoft over poor security. Almost 1 in 2 Windows PCs is now a zombie PC, so he was right all along.
For saying the truth, other people seem to have gotten sacked as well. This is an old story, but one which is worth bringing up again.
It seems that my post is seen by Microsoft Security as being a security violation. The picture itself might have been permissible, but because I also mentioned that I worked at the MSCopy print shop, and which building it was in, it pushed me over the line. Merely removing the post was also not an option — I offered, and my manager said that he had asked the same thing — but the only option afforded me was to collect any personal belongings I had at my workstation and be escorted out the door. They were at least kind enough to let me be escorted out by one of my co-workers, rather than sending security over to usher me out, but the end result is the same.
[...]
So, I’m unemployed. I am somewhat lucky in that I’m not technically unemployed — I am still on the roster for my temp agency, who has been very good to me so far (and hopefully will continue to be), but as their ability to place me anywhere does depend on the current job market, it’s not a foolproof guarantee of employment coming in quickly. I’ve put a call into them and let them know of the situation and that I’m available and willing for whatever can be found, so with any luck, they’ll be able to find a placement for me. However, it appears that it’s also time for me to start hitting the streets and shopping my resume around again.
It was only 2 days ago that we also mentioned how Microsoft strong armed Tracy Reed for discovering weaknesses in ActiveX.
Why improve security when you can just gag (or get fired) those who know and spread the truth? Remember this story? █
“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.”
–Bill Gates, Microsoft
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