"Everyone in this room is wearing clothes, so you all have something to hide" --Anonymous comment today in #techrights (IRC)



Summary: Companies created and/or run by oligarchs view privacy itself as a form of crime (except when they do it; they want privacy or control only for themselves) because they play 'nanny' and work for/with 'nanny states'

IT has come to our attention that today the site gets an influx of traffic (about 10 hits per second) because of our articles about Microsoft and the NSA supposedly "trending" (e.g. here and here, as well as many 'tweets' in Twitter).

"Even full disk encryption in Windows has back doors in it, based on hard evidence."Social control media isn't something we spend much time on, but this one might be noteworthy because it raised a legitimate point about power, wealth and disregard for people's basic dignity (privacy):

If you ever see a Microsoft developer evangelist getting on a morality high horse, just pass them this:

http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_and_the_NSA

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I find it very interesting that once a company gets to a certain size they’re willing to do a lot of questionable things to make more money.

You’d think having a bazillion dollars already would decrease the profit incentive, but nope.

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The fact that you're "surprised" by it is part of the reason why I'm now against shaming other people when they try to make money.

If people can't actively acknowledge the inherent negative impact of a giant company's behavior then it's wrong to shame individuals for doing it.

Ages ago Microsoft decided to throw caution to the wind in the name of profit; it didn't take long for Microsoft to put back doors and allow spies into Windows (we found a CNN report about it going back to some time around 1995 when more PCs became Internet-connected, for at least some of the time due to dial-up being prevalent in homes). People who still -- even in 2020 -- believe that Windows can under any circumstances be made to respect privacy are deluding themselves. Even full disk encryption in Windows has back doors in it, based on hard evidence. That's just how much Microsoft 'values' privacy. ⬆