Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is Allegedly Helping State Spying in Exchange for Money (Contracts)

The spooky side of Microsoft...

ECHELON



Summary: Microsoft surveillance may be going much further than Skype, Windows, etc.

A fairly new press release from April says that Microsoft may be putting back doors in its software, as part of a collusion (we wrote about this subject more than half a decade ago):



On Wednesday, April 17th, 2013, the Canard Enchaîné (a French satirical weekly 1) published new revelations about the "Open Bar" contract currently being negotiated between Microsoft and the French Ministry of Defense. Originally revealed by PCInpact, on February 5th, 2013, these decisions, made in secret and criticized by the rapporteur of the State Public Procurement Commission, seem to have been driven by NATO. April renews its calls for the French Prime Minister to send the Ministry of Defense to rehab. The association is worried about the threats, detailed in the satirical weekly, that such a contract could represent to national security, and about the risks that other ministries might follow suite. Finally, it asks for transparency on this contract's negotiations.

The initial "Open Bar" contract was about the rental of Microsoft Office software and was entered into in 2009, for a period of four years; yet, the Public Procurement Commission's rapporteur had pointed out that the contract presented many exceptions to the principles of public procurement. Since the agreement made the Ministry of Defense unacceptably dependent on Microsoft, April called for the Prime Minister to suspend the contract renegotiations, so that all the facts surrounding the issue might be brought to light and so that we might start afresh on healthy foundations. April has moreover written to the Prime Minister, to the Defense Minister, and to parliamentarians to inform them about these requests.

[...]

This week, the Canard Enchainé shines new light on the file and gives new information about the reasons leading the army to "capitulate to Microsoft", without the government services being able to do anything about it. The weekly newspaper quotes Patrick Bazin, the central director of the Department of Interministerial Information Systems and Communication (DISIC, Direction interministérielle des systèmes d'information et de communication), who campaigns for the renewal of this contract because of interoperability obligations between allies, to the extent that "NATO chose Microsoft solutions for its work stations." However, this argument is untruthful: interoperability entails being able to run on all systems, and not only on those within an editor's hegemony.

[...]

Tax evasion

The Canard Enchainé article ends with "the contract's ultimate joke": by signing the "Open Bar" contract with Microsoft Ireland, instead of with Microsoft France, the Ministry of Defense would be engaging in tax evasion.


That last point is noteworthy, but it is not the main point, which we covered here before.

So what is it that Microsoft does to facilitate spying? It is not as though Microsoft ever respected privacy. The man behind Microsoft, using his new front group, is lobbying to privatise schools now, seeking to make some contractors spy on children. He has been occupying and privatising the indoctrination system for the young, as noted here and elsewhere many times before. Here is his latest act:

Actors do it. Professional athletes do it. Now Bill Gates wants the country to spend $5 billion for every teacher in every classroom in every district to be filmed in action so they can be evaluated and, maybe, improve.


Pamela Jones writes: "Nobody in the classroom has a camera on a phone already? And I don't want any child of mine being filmed in school for any purpose at all, ever, thanks, and if it were to happen, I don't want Bill Gates to receive it."

The privatised surveillance complex has always been having a fun time with Microsoft. Now that Microsoft lets spooks listen to Skype communications the bond is ever more strong. But let Microsoft chastise Google over privacy...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Judgment translated to English in FINMA & Debian trademark fiasco
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Brigading (in Social Control Media) Did Not Silence the Creator of GNU/Linux
there are no impending talks at the moment
 
Links 25/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Starbucks, Kaspersky Banned on Australian Government Systems
Links for the day
Links 25/02/2025: Strawberry Lemonade, Introducing Fiss, and YouTube Acting Aggressive
Links for the day
UK: Twitter Falls to Lowest Traffic Levels in 5 Years (Start of Lockdowns), Down From More Than 37% to Only 6.5%
Months ago Twitter (aka "X") was blasted by the British government for inciting right-wing violence
Confirmed: IBM Layoffs Will Strike Consulting Quite Hard
the flagging of staff is a way to signal to them it's time to go or get the boot
Sami Tikkanen Explains What Happened to Computer Science Education in Finland and Elsewhere
The 'broligarchs', a collective which typically created anything of their own, do not want the general population to possess skills that let it be anything other than passive consumers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 24, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 24, 2025
Truth is Not About Appeasing the Feelings of Men Who Hurt Women
True information is just what it is
Links 24/02/2025: Compromised Laptops and EU Shift to the Right (Boosted by Social Control Media Interventions)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/02/2025: Politics, Monarchy, and AuraRepo Prism VCS Suppor
Links for the day
Links 24/02/2025: Germany Looks to Distance Itself From US, Environment at Risk, Mass Layoffs at Zendesk
Links for the day
[Meme] It's Over, Microsoft
an obligatory meme
Even Worse Than LLM Slop and Linkspam From UNIXMen
UNIXMen is basically a defunct spamfarm at this point (the author is "sarwarSEO")
Proprietary Software is Bad for Your Health, Not Just Your Finances, Privacy and So On
It would be interesting to see some charts, based on some long-term study, comparing the general health (blood pressure, BMI etc.) of people who use proprietary stuff and people who do not
Gemini Links 24/02/2025: Osiris 0.1.0 Release (File Sharing in Gemini Protocol), NetBSD 10.1 on the Pi
Links for the day
Microsoft Admits Business Perils as Windows Continues to Fall
‘Microsoft missed the biggest business model…’
Technical Specifications at Times of Tyrannies
Specifications (specs) must evolve with the times
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 23, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 23, 2025
In Case Rust Censors It (Rust Has Long Been All About Censorship), Here's a Critical Look at Rust's Goals
In the case of Rust, instead of "the liberation of the digital society" we have empowerment of Microsoft GitHub and of GAFAM in general. Guess who funds this...
Gemini Links 23/02/2025: Respectful Platforms Manifesto and Internet Archive
Links for the day
The Significance of the Timing of the Ridiculous Letters From Brett Wilson LLP, Acting on Behalf of People From Microsoft
A preliminary look at the timeline and what it tells us
Politicians Ought to Invite Dr. Richard Stallman and Prof. Eben Moglen to Speak About Policies, Licensing, Digital Sovereignty
Is there something in Europe other than RMS' talk this coming Monday (that we're not yet aware of)?
The So-called 'IT' Industry Became Somewhat of a Fraud Where People Equate Usage and Power Wasted With "Value" or "Success"
When did 'IT' become a weapon rather than technology/science?
Things to Like About London
Many important or "powerful" people leave near there
Links 23/02/2025: Democracy Backsliding and German Election
Links for the day
Joining APRIL(.org), AGM weekend, Paris, 15-16 March 2025
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/02/2025: Zuckerberg Despised, US Government Does Not Obey Judges, France Grapples With Terrorism
Links for the day
Links 23/02/2025: Apple Back Doors, Ukraine Updates, and Gemini Leftovers
Links for the day
Recent Improvements in Techrights
minimalism works fine when the main goal is to relay information
Slopwatch: Brian Fagioli, Brittany Day (linuxsecurity.com), and Microsoft Misinformation, False Marketing
Serial Sloppers
Censored: Debian Zizian transgender vigilante comparisons in open source Linux communities
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 22, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 22, 2025