Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Biggest Back Doors Giant (Microsoft) Serves Malware to GNU/Linux Machines, Microsoft's Media Partners Blame 'Linux'

Another ongoing FUD pattern: ZDNet Calls Windows Ransomware “Linux” to Keep Pages About Linux Full of Fear-Mongering Nonsense | Kaspersky and Linux are slowly becoming a combustible mix (by Sam Varghese)

'Kaspersky and Linux are slowly becoming a combustible mix' by Sam Varghese



Summary: The ongoing attacks on the credibility of GNU/Linux (when it comes to security) are basically the framing of Windows ransomware as "Linux" and malware served by Microsoft's GitHub as a "Linux" problem

THE media (or real journalism) is dying. It lacks credibility because of its utterly rogue business model. It's not about information but about deflection and perception management. The other day we composed a rebuttal to one new example, as did Sam Varghese a few hours ago (link above).



Remember when Canonical's GitHub account got cracked and the media was quick to blast Ubuntu rather than Microsoft, the actual steward of GitHub, which is proprietary and secretive?

"The other day we composed a rebuttal to one new example, as did Sam Varghese a few hours ago..."Something similar could be observed this past week; we've been mentioning that in passing, especially in our Daily Links; Microsoft's propaganda network ZDNet doesn't like to mention how pretty much everything from Microsoft comes with back doors; instead it's defaming people who have long warned about such back doors.

One person told us this morning (regarding the latest FUD pattern):

"Microsoft blaming its security problems on Linux is nothing new. In the late 1990s they were getting owned continuously and constantly tried to spread the rumor that it was "Linux people" behind it. I've heard variant of that 10 years ago and with the GitHub problems, it seems they are still talking that way."


Microsoft is putting back doors in just about everything, then blaming "Linux" when those back doors are being exploited.

Regarding those back doors, nothing has changed since the Snowden leaks, which revealed PRISM (pioneered by Microsoft and the NSA).

From the The Investigatory Powers (Technical Capability) Regulations 2018 (old but still applicable): "These Regulations set out the obligations which may be contained in a technical capability notice given by the Secretary of State under section 253 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (c. 25). A technical capability notice imposes obligations on a relevant operator in order to ensure that the operator has the capability to provide assistance in relation to interception warrants, equipment interference warrants, or warrants or authorisations for the obtaining of communications data. A “relevant operator” means a postal operator, a telecommunications operator, or a person who is proposing to become either."

ZDNet latest LinuxAlec Muffett wrote: "Hi, my name's Alec., I used to be a Facebook engineer and I led the team which put End-to-End-Encryption into Facebook Messenger. I had these arguments. Re: "There is no "coercion" of companies on the EU level" - you are surely aware of "Technical Capability Notices" in the UK..." (there's a screenshot there)

Microsoft still has back doors in everything. But somehow that doesn't seem to interest ZDNet and the likes of it.

Boycott Microsoft propaganda networks such as ZDNet. The sad thing is that we noticed that "FOSS" or "Linux" sites linking to such FUD, in effect amplifying the propaganda, perhaps unwittingly. In practical teams, the boycotts will be effective when the links and the traffic stop; those sites really just need to retire, but they're funded by those standing to gain from the misinformation. "They must be subsidised by someone because their business model is unsustainable," one person noted in IRC this morning. "Just like Mozilla, EFF etc."

"Microsoft is actively attacking GNU/Linux with FUD and with 'drugs' (e.g. the openwashing of Visual Studio with the binary blob it calls "Code" -- complete with surveillance)."It should be noted that over the past fortnight or more ZDNet published/pinned only 7 stories in the "Linux" section (usually it's 3 times more). Is the boycott working? No story in 4 days now (the latest one is the FUD from Catalin Cimpanu). See the image to the right (screenshot from minutes ago).

Microsoft is actively attacking GNU/Linux with FUD and with 'drugs' (e.g. the openwashing of Visual Studio with the binary blob it calls "Code" -- complete with surveillance). Don't lose track of who's doing what in this attack.

"As many of you may know, we've actually kind of broadened the product portfolio of Visual Studio, targeting all the way from the low end with students and hobbyists, kind of competitive in that Linux space, making sure that every developer has a copy of .NET and is trained in writing .NET solutions. [...] I think it will really help us in our competition with open source."

--Eric Rudder, Senior Vice President, Microsoft (Financial Analyst Meeting 2005)



Recent Techrights' Posts

What LibreOffice and TDF Get Right About Document Formats (and What They Get Wrong)
OOXML is a phantom - it is something nobody implements, not even Microsoft!
Cannot Speak About IBM Wrongdoing or Jobs Being Sent Overseas (Lower Salaries)
IBM has long attacked the media, the whistleblowers, and even online forums
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The CIA-Funded Centre-Left in Portugal
In the political turmoil which followed the fall of the old regime, the communists seemed to be acquiring a dominant position and there was a very real risk that Portugal could end up aligned with the Eastern Bloc if they were not stopped
Yesterday Afternoon The Register MS Published a Fake Article That Says "AI" 31 Times Because It Got Paid to Do This
What will happen when all those loans for slop (Ponzi scheme) stop and companies' marketing budgets - which include media bribes for hype campaigns - are no more?
Extraordinary General Meeting of Staff Union of the European Patent Office Ahead of Intensifying Strikes
We will, in the meantime, run a series about EPO corruption, which is now connected to corruption in Portugal and to corruption inside the EU
 
Communities and "Prosumers."
today's meetup will be about community
Gemini and Gopher Links 10/06/2026: Roasting, Changes, and Harms of Slop
Links for the day
IBM Genies in the Bottle
for ordinary people working who at at IBM, it's not hard to see that IBM is floundering
Microsoft Azure Shrinking With More Mass Layoffs
"Reports suggest the layoffs will impact close to 200 out of 400 workers, who are set to cease employment at Azure on July 6"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 09, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 09, 2026
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Centre-Right "Social Democratic Party" in Portugal
Quite an achievement for a former Maoist radical and aspiring champion of the Portuguese proletariat to be invited to join Goldman Sachs
SLAPP Censorship - Part 102 Out of 200: Maybe One Day Whistleblowers From Brett Wilson LLP Will Tell Us What Really Happened
Maybe one day some former staff of Brett Wilson LLP will also approach us to blow the whistle
Gemini Links 09/06/2026: "The Mist of the Lands Between", Board Game Concept
Links for the day
2026: The Year Slop Companies "Made an Exit" (Threw in the Towel Over to Wall Street)
Remember 2026 as the year two major slop companies (which we won't name) sought an IPO
Links 09/06/2026: NSO Group still cracking, "FOI tribunal throws out £14k costs claim against journalist Barnie Choudhury"
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2026: "Smartphones Broke Dating" and "EU Open Source Strategy"
Links for the day
This Coming Friday
Richard Stallman (RMS)
Several Slopfarms That Target "Linux" Seem to Have Died
Or perished severely
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 08, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 08, 2026
Gemini Links 09/06/2026: Tanana River, Cassette Beasts, and Emacs
Links for the day
IBM's Quantum Bubble Already Deflating
Shares down over $55 in a few days
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Brotherhood of São Bento
The Palácio São Bento – or São Bento Palace – is the seat of the Portuguese National Assembly in Lisbon
SLAPP Censorship - Part 101 Out of 200: Women Come to Realise They Don't Wish to Participate in Attacking Vulnerable Women
It relates to another topic that we shall be covering in the coming weeks
Links 08/06/2026: Proprietary Loaded With Security Holes, Armenia Defies Russia
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/06/2026: NetHack 5.0.0 and Slop as Cannibalism
Links for the day
Links 08/06/2026: "Rising Emissions, Depleting Water" Due to the Pyramid Scheme of Slop; "Canada Needs to Rebuild Public Telecoms"
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to Police for Trying to Throw Large Parcel Into Our Home
This morning the campaign of intimidation...
GAFAM Bots Are Not "Good Bots"
There's nothing "Good" about Google
Links 08/06/2026: Criticism of Microsoft Trying to Criminalise Pointing Out Bug Doors, TikTok Now "Climate-Denying Social Media App"
Links for the day
Slop Has no ROI, an Economy Built on False Assumptions of Slop is Doomed
we're all going to suffer from this Ponzi scheme
The Cyber Show Has "Exciting Guests Coming" and a Gemini Capsule
"Site development is ongoing but now settling into a more stable form"
GNU/Linux Measured at 10% in Liechtenstein This Month
it seems like statCounter wrongly classified some GNU/Linux clients as Mac clients and is now issuing a correction
Communicating With Freedom - Part III - Quibble Envisioned as a New and Easily Accessible Communications Platform Based on LibreJS
the FSF really needs to become more active if not proactive in promoting those sorts of things
Clownflare Says Majority of Web Traffic is Now Bots, But the Net is Another Story
Bots are to Clownflare what lawsuits are to lawyers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 07, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 07, 2026
The Strikes at the European Patent Office Planned to Carry on for the Entire Year, Maybe Future Years as Well
There's a cautionary tale somewhere
Number of Patent Grants Has Plunged 23% Amid Strikes at the European Patent Office, Today There Are More Strikes (Strike Participation at Over 3,000, More Than Doubled Since Winter)
There is a growing crisis at the European Patent Office
E.E.E. Still Ongoing, the War on Copyleft/GPL Enables That
It also imperils security.