10.03.13

Even Microsoft Chief (Departed) Admits That Microsoft is a Very Serious Violator of Privacy

Posted in Google, Microsoft at 9:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Surveillance runs in their blood

Summary: Tackling the claims that Microsoft cares about privacy and some more NSA news

THERE IS A LOT of evidence showing that Microsoft has climbed into the NSA’s bed, making it exceedingly easy for US spooks to spy on people all around the world, even without warrants. Edward Snowden has added plenty of evidence to show how wide-ranging Microsoft surveillance is. Bill Gates is still in the surveillance business, even outside Microsoft [1, 2]. He evidently likes to oppress people.

“Surveillance is about control and corporate interests, but it is being managed by the state which liases with corporations (the data collectors).”According to [1-3], even Microsoft’s own ‘privacy’ chief turns out to be vocal opponents of the company’s stance on privacy. Just remember this next time Microsoft accuses Google or some other company of privacy violations. The same goes for Mozilla [4], whose staff is known to be criticising Google (a partner) over privacy rather than Microsoft. Mozilla itself is trying hard to portray itself as pro-privacy. Privacy is the new “green” now. The “Do Not Track” working group shows some current trends as such [5]. Microsoft’s puppet, Yahoo, has a certain approach to it [6] and CBS, a friend of Microsoft, still focuses only on Google when it comes to privacy [7], whereas the EFF and other groups address the problem as a whole [8,9,10]. This is essentially an attack on journalism and justice [11], including accountability for those who violate privacy [12]. There is personal retribution against those who stand up and fight the NSA [13,14] and even chipsets are allegedly now spying on users, provided these users buy Intel (as many unavoidably do) [15].

Surveillance is about control and corporate interests [16], but it is being managed by the state which liases with corporations (the data collectors). Considering what Microsoft does in Russia, we know that Microsoft is on the side of the oppressors, not just in the US. For this, Microsoft deserves a boycott and perhaps even lawsuits. Microsoft profits from tyranny and oppression, so reparations are well overdue. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Ex-Microsoft privacy adviser: I don’t trust company after NSA revelations

2. Ex-Microsoft privacy advisor: I don’t trust Microsoft, thanks to PRISM

   The former chief privacy adviser to Microsoft has said the NSA scandal has left him distrustful of the Redmond giant.

3. Former Microsoft Privacy Chief Says He No Longer Trusts The Company

   Microsoft’s onetime Chief Privacy Advisor, Caspar Bowden, has come out with a vote of no-confidence in the company’s long-term privacy measures and ability or interest to secure user data in the wake of the NSA’s PRISM program. From 2002 – 2011, Bowden was in charge of privacy at Microsoft, and oversaw the company’s efforts in that area in more than 40 countries, but claims to have been unaware of the PRISM program’s existence while he worked at the company. In the two years since leaving Microsoft, Bowden has ceased carrying a cell phone and become a staunch open source user, claiming that he no longer trusts a program unless he can see the source.

4. Google and the NSA

   So, it’s just the nature of our society that Google amasses troves of personal data on billions of people from all over the world and is then compelled to hand that over to the NSA.

5. Digital Advertising Alliance Exits Do Not Track Group

   Ad community to the World Wide Web Consortium: The Do Not Track working group process is broken.

6. A “Not My Email” Button, Because Yahoo Users Are Getting Other People’s Emails

   The button will let users reject emails not directed to them, but its effectiveness relies on the goodwill of the new address holders.

7. How Google could have made the Web secure and failed — again

   Google confirms it made a change to better protect the privacy of how people search. However, it left loopholes and once again failed to seize an opportunity to encourage all sites to go secure.

8. Time to Speak Up Against the NSA’s Mass Spying

   This summer, some of our worst fears and suspicions about the NSA have been confirmed. We now have evidence that the NSA is actively undermining the basic security of the Internet. It is collecting millions and millions of phone records of individuals not suspected of any crime. It is surveilling journalists.

9. European Parliament LIBE Inquiry on Electronic Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens

   Without free media, where we can all read, write, listen and dis­cuss ideas freely and in pri­vacy, we are all liv­ing in an Orwellian dysto­pia, and we are all poten­tially at risk. These media must be based on tech­no­lo­gies that empower indi­vidual cit­izens, not cor­por­a­tions or for­eign gov­ern­ments. The Free Soft­ware Found­a­tion has been mak­ing these recom­mend­a­tions for over two decades.

10. US websites should inform EU citizens about NSA surveillance, says report

    All existing data sharing agreements between Europe and the US should be revoked, and US web site providers should prominently inform European citizens that their data may be subject to government surveillance, according to the recommendations of a briefing report for the European Parliament.

11. Email surveillance could reveal journalists’ sources, expert claims

12. Edward Snowden’s E-Mail Provider Defied FBI Demands to Turn Over Crypto Keys, Documents Show

    The U.S. government in July obtained a search warrant demanding that Edward Snowden’s e-mail provider, Lavabit, turn over the private SSL keys that protected all web traffic to the site, according to to newly unsealed documents.

    The July 16 order came after Texas-based Lavabit refused to circumvent its own security systems to comply with earlier orders intended to monitor a particular Lavabit user’s metadata, defined as “information about each communication sent or received by the account, including the date and time of the communication, the method of communication, and the source and destination of the communication.”

13. Ilija Trojanow, German Writer, Banned From US For Criticizing NSA

    According to Der Spiegel, German-Bulgarian writer and activist Ilija Trojanow was barred from entering the United States on Monday. Trojanow was to speak at a literary conference. HuffPost Live’s Ahmed Shihab-Eldin took a closer look at the story, which has yet to be covered by most major news sources in the U.S.

    While U.S. authorities did not provide Trojanow with a formal explanation, he believes he has been banned from the US because of his outspoken criticism of the NSA’s surveillance programs.

14. ‘The NSA set me up,’ ex-con Qwest exec claims

    Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, having recently completed a prison sentence for insider trading, maintains that he never committed any crime and that the sole reason for his conviction can be summed up in three letters: NSA.

    In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Nacchio said former security contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about far-reaching domestic spying programs conducted by the US National Security Agency backed up his claim of innocence, which has never wavered since his 2007 trial.

15. Secret 3G Radio in Every Intel vPro CPU Could Steal Your Ideas at Any Time

    Hilariously enough, Intel has created one of the most sought after technologies without letting anyone know about it. Basically, all Intel vPro CPUs (which include new mobile Core i5 and Core i7 chips) have an undocumented 3G chip inside. That chip is visible to the 3G network, even when the PC is not powered on.

16. Government signals end to CCTV use for parking fines

    If CCTV cameras are about public protection, why are they bringing in £300m in revenue from parking enforcement?

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