Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft and Bill Gates the Most Zealous Surveillance Proponents in the Software World

Summary: A look at some of the latest privacy-washing of Microsoft (the worst privacy offender in the software world) and the parallel actions of Bill Gates and fellow plutocrats

Surveillance is a hot subject these days. People finally oppose mass surveillance because they know a lot better just how bad it is, owing for the most part to leaks.



Virtually no software company has been worse than Microsoft when it comes to surveillance, not even Google or Facebook, which is a monstrous surveillance machine that's partly owned by Microsoft. We were rather disgusted to see the role that GigaOM, the network of Om Malik, played in providing Microsoft with a "propaganda platform" (to use a now-comical term from the US State Department). How much did Microsoft pay Malik in 2006 (or thereabouts) when he embedded Microsoft propaganda inside his articles (Microsoft still does such things)? Nobody knows how much, but there were payments involved. This criminal company, Microsoft, paid for AstroTurfing of this kind and now it pushes the preposterous idea of opening 'transparency centres', owing to Malik's hosting. Microsoft admits it is hurt by the public's understanding that it's in bed with the NSA [1], so it lies to the public using Malik's platform. Here is more of that, also from HP.

The situation has gotten so serious that even British banks are now worried about Fog Computing [2], especially if it involves NSA/PRISM companies like Microsoft (the #1 company in PRISM).

Speaking of surveillance, Bill Gates, who is a famous proponent of the NSA, uses taxpayers-funded Establishments, such as schools and public media (e.g. PBS and NPR), for surveillance. These are common targets for Bill Gates bribes. It's a perception game. You bribe the right people to get the agenda rectified. He also invests in surveillance companies such as G4S and InBloom (along with Rupert Murdoch). The other day we found this good article on this topic, titled "PARCC Security Breaches Revealed; Microsoft, InBloom, News Corp. Implicated".

The article says: "When LouisianaVoice broke the story about the stealth agreement between the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. whereby DOE would provide News Corp. with personal information on Louisiana’s public school students for use by a company affiliated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the resulting firestorm resulted in cancellation of the agreement.

"Or did it?

"Remember, too, that it was Murdoch who, in 2010, speaking of the enormous business opportunity in public education awaiting corporate America, said, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the U.S.”

"In June of 2012, Erin Bendily, assistant deputy superintendent for departmental support and former education policy adviser to Gov. Bobby Jindal emailed Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White:

"“I think we need to start with a very strong introduction and embed more CCSS (Common Core State Standards) alignment/integration throughout. This sounds harsh, but we should show that our current/old educator evaluation system is crap and the new system is stellar.”"

We covered Common Core before. It's all about turning schools into indoctrination centres (of the rich) and Professor Diane Ravitch, a vocal opponent of Gates (who calls for Federal action against him), has this new article about "Making Schools Poor" (so that they can be bought out). To quote: "It pretends that great teachers will magically appear after principals gain the power to fire teachers without the necessity of hearings. But inner-city schools already have high teacher turnover and difficulty attracting well-qualified teachers. What’s needed most in schools that serve the poorest children is adequate resources, a full curriculum, and a stable, experienced staff. The Vergara decision will do nothing to improve working conditions, to attract better qualified teachers, or to increase the resources available to the neediest children."

The talking point which belittles teachers and accuses them of being inadequate has been famously pushed forth by Gates, who seeks to replace teachers with surveillance gadgets (bracelets) and centralised surveillance systems to monitor (profile) both teachers and students. No doubt Gates is a big champion of surveillance and everyone should make no mistake about Microsoft's privacy policy (note Gates' current role in the company's strategy). Microsoft would even read people's personal E-mails to get them jailed and deported (nothing to do with national security or even three-letter agencies).

Related/contextual items from the news:
  1. Microsoft: Customers trust us much less since NSA scandal
    Microsoft admitted that, since the scandal broke, it has seen concrete evidence that trust in its services is plummeting.


  2. Cloud opens up UK firms' data to CIA spies, warns Bank of England CIO


Recent Techrights' Posts

Richard Stallman Lecture in GDC Auditorium in Austin, Texas
corporate power could not 'cancel' the man
It's Not About the Head, It's About the Masters (and Funding)
Regardless of who the OSI claims to be its leader, its masters are Microsoft, just follow the money
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 15, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Links 15/04/2026: Geelong Corio Refinery Fire, Journalist Sentenced for "Insulting the President"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/04/2026: Organiding .bashrc with Imports, Oddμ as SSG
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 14, 2026
The Deleted Article About Mass Layoffs at IBM (April 2026)
Resurrected
Lots of Positive News Lately, Microsoft GitHub in Trouble
it's not too crazy to speculate about GitHub being the next Skype (or CodePlex)
The Register MS Has "Webinars" (Marketing); They're Promoting Ponzi Schemes or Slop But Disguised as "Intelligence"
These "webinars" are just spam displayed to people as if it contains real information
It Was Always About Freedom and Sovereignty (or Self-Determination)
About 24 hours from now Richard Stallman (RMS) will be giving a talk in Texas
Mass Layoffs at IBM Again, Just in Time for the Fake "Results" Next Week
Slopfarm will issue some chaff to give an illusion of journalism
Windows (Microsoft) in Botswana Falls to Another New Low
Botswana is a fairly large country
SLAPP Censorship - Part 47 Out of 200: British Courts Are Not Censorship Offices for Americans Funded by Affluent Third Parties
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was scrutinised by our government
More Than 6 Months After a Very Close Friend of António Campinos and EPO Official Caught With Cocaine Campinos is Cracking Down on - or Stealing From - EPO Staff
Now they go after the "Education and Childcare Allowance"
Links 14/04/2026: Data Breaches and LLM Slop in Courts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/04/2026: Mastodon in the Terminal and a Voxel Engine
Links for the day
Links 14/04/2026: Against US Monopolies in UK, Legal Action Against Twitter
Links for the day
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Under Scrutiny Today in the British Government's Meeting, Grilled for Its Failure to Regulate Rogue Law Firms
Things are not improving
The Series About SLAPPs Funded by Third Parties: All Parts Thus Far
index for today
SLAPP Censorship - Part 46 Out of 200: Alex Graveley's Attorney Rick Cofer Did Not Deny That Graveley Had Strangled Women; He Did, However, Pay Local Officials
some background about SLAPPs that began in 2021 very shortly after I wrote about corruption at Microsoft GitHub
The EPO's Attitude Towards Women and Media Silence on EPO Unrest
There's media blackout about very critical matters
Gemini Links 14/04/2026: Greed Versus Stability; Board and Card Games
Links for the day
Links 14/04/2026: Cheeto Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against the Media, "France Takes Its 129 Tonnes of Gold Uut of New York"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 13, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, April 13, 2026