09.08.11
Posted in America, Microsoft at 3:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A demonstration of how — with help from the US government — Microsoft was able to influence affairs overseas and also raid shops that spread Microsoft products
THIS morning we showed a few cables from Saudi Arabia. Microsoft was trying to change laws and practices there, in order of course to better accommodate Microsoft’s profit model, not to help Saudi citizens. Well, this leaning on the government — helped by US officials — seems to have paid off. We’ve just found another Cablegate cable from exactly 2 years ago. It shows the role of the BSA behind the scenes too:
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STATE FOR NEA/ARP (HARRIS, BERNDT) AND EEB/TPP/IPE
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USTR (BUNTIN)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON, ETRD, KIPR, SA
SUBJECT: Microsoft and Saudi leaders cite progress on IPR
Ref: Jeddah 297
1. (SBU) Summary: The Saudi Ministry of Culture continues to make
progress working through a backlog of cases of suspected copyright
violators. The Ministry reports it has closed several stores for
brief periods until they resolve copyright violations. It plans for
the first time to refer a repeat offender to the Board of
Grievances. The Ministry supports greater public relations efforts
to increase awareness of IPR issues, and it is willing to work with
industry on training and awareness campaigns. Meanwhile, local
Microsoft representatives tell us they have seen the Saudi
government show improvement in both attitude and enforcement, and
they confirmed to us that one computer store has been closed for IPR
violations. The company remains willing to work with Saudi
ministries to provide training and increase awareness, although they
still say enforcement could be stronger, including within the SAG.
End summary.
Microsoft exec: Saudi record on IPR has improved...
--------------------------------------------- -------
2. (SBU) On September 8, Fernando De Sousa, Microsoft's chief
operating officer in Saudi Arabia, paid a farewell call on Charge
Ambassador Erdman, thanking him for the Embassy's strong support on
IPR issues. The Ambassador briefed De Sousa on his recent
conversations with Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal
Alireza (reftel), in which the Minister reiterated Saudi Arabia's
commitment to fulfill all of its WTO commitments to protect
intellectual property. The Minister had said he welcomed the
interest of companies like Microsoft in supporting SAG enforcement
efforts, including through training. Econ Counselor also briefed
the Microsoft team on recent conversations with Assistant Deputy
Culture Minister for Internal Information Abdulrahman Al-Hazzaa, who
also welcomed cooperation with Microsoft and other companies on
training and public awareness campaigns.
3. (SBU) Hazzaa reported that the Ministry of Culture and
Information is processing the backlog of IPR enforcement cases that
had been awaiting review by the violations review committee,
finishing an average of 7 a week, and on track to finish reviewing
all old cases by the end of September (the committee was meeting in
the adjoining room while Econoffs called on Hazzaa). Hazzaa said
that this will allow the committee to focus on bringing new cases
from inspectors, which will help improve awareness of enforcement
efforts. Hazzaa reported that, as a result of the committee's
reviews, several shops have been closed with the posting of large
public notices explaining why until the owners come and settle their
fines with the Ministry. The point, according to Hazzaa, is to
impress upon store owners that they cannot sell pirated goods with
impunity. (Microsoft reps separately confirmed they are aware of
one computer store having been closed down and said that closures
may help stores selling legitimate software compete if enforcement
is seen as more pervasive.) Hazzaa also reported that increased
Ministry inspections and enforcement efforts have disrupted the
ability of black market vendors to sell a range of pirated products.
Econoffs have observed a reduction in the public sale of pirated
software and other items, like movies, over the last year.
Microsoft representatives agree that there has been some reduction
in street-level sales, although they believe stores in malls
continue to sell pirated software.
4. (SBU) Hazzaa also reported that the committee had found one
commercial entity had engaged in so many violations that the
committee has recommended, for the first time, that the case be sent
to the Board of Grievances with a recommended fine of SR 100,000.
He explained that the Minister of Culture and Information will have
to approve this referral, and he promised to push hard for this
approval, noting that this will send an important message to the
Saudi public and business owners that the Ministry is serious about
enforcing copyright laws.
... and the issue now is sustainment
------------------------------------
5. (SBU) De Sousa told the Ambassador that there has been
improvement in IPR copyright protection in the last several years,
although he said the issue now is to make this improvement
sustainable. He also stressed Microsoft's willingness to support
efforts by the Ministries of Culture and Commerce to publicize
enforcement efforts and assist public campaigns to raise awareness
of IPR issues.
6. (SBU) Despite the improvement in the overall climate, De Souza
noted that problems remain. He noted that Microsoft has discovered
a software activation key licensed to the Ministry of Interior has
been used in Pakistan and other south Asian countries to attempt to
register product upgrades. The Ambassador suggested that Microsoft
work with the Business Software Alliance and other companies to come
up with a white paper listing specific problems on which it would be
RIYADH 00001202 002 OF 002
useful to have greater cooperation with the SAG, including the
Ministry of Interior.
7. (SBU) Comment: The Embassy will continue to work with the
Ministries of Culture and Commerce and with industry representatives
to foster agreement on a public relations campaign to increase
awareness about IPR issues. We will also continue to support
industry offers to provide training to SAG inspectors, and efforts
to achieve SAG support to allow an audit of its own software to
ensure it does not exceed its existing license requirements. End
comment.
MUENCH
As one of our readers put it earlier today, “More and more, governments act as butlers for big companies.” █
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Posted in America, Cablegate, Microsoft at 3:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A confidential cable from just 2 years ago shows the background to Microsoft’s IM ban in several countries that the US views as enemies
IN MAY of 2009 we wrote repeatedly about Microsoft playing along with political sanctions by banning particular countries. The following Cablegate cable, titled “CUBANS DISAPPOINTED BY MICROSOFT; INSPIRED BY IRAN,” shows what diplomats were saying about it. It’s marked “C O N F I D E N T I A L” (far higher than most cables of this kind) and it is easy to see why. We are highlighting a few bits of interest:
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TAGS: EINT, PREL, ECON, CU, IR
SUBJECT: CUBANS DISAPPOINTED BY MICROSOFT; INSPIRED BY IRAN
HAVANA 00000361 001.2 OF 002
Classified By: COM Jonathan Farrar for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
-------
SUMMARY
-------
1. (C) The decision by Microsoft and others to block certain
internet communication services in Cuba works directly
against U.S. goals to advance people-to-people interaction.
The growing Cuban virtual community has privately and
publicly expressed its disappointment. Bloggers remain
undeterred, however, in their effort to break Cuba's
information blockade and are inspired by current events in
Iran and the expanded use of mobile phones to receive and
transmit information. This cable contains an action request
in paragraph 6. End Summary.
------------------------------------------
DOING THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT'S WORK FOR THEM
------------------------------------------
2. (C) Cuban bloggers Yoani Sanchez and Claudia Cadelo
recently expressed disappointment in Microsoft's decision to
block access to Windows Live Instant Messenger for internet
users in Cuba (and other state sponsors of terrorism) through
their respective blogs, Generacion Y and Octavo Cerco. The
Cuban Government strictly controls internet usage and
restricts access to several internet sites (including many
blogs), even for tourists in Cuban hotels. In shutting down
Instant Messenger, both bloggers commented that Microsoft is
in effect doing the work of Cuban Government censors for
them. The bloggers worry that potential further action to
avoid violations of the U.S. embargo by foreign internet and
software companies may negatively affect the growing cyber
community in Cuba. Tech savvy Cubans can get around the
restrictions by using proxy servers based outside Cuba or
third party messenger hosts, but most Cubans are simply
forced to do without.
3. (C) Microsoft and other providers of similar free,
downloadable software (Note: Google Talk is also blocked.
End Note) claim that the encrypted code used in these
programs is restricted by U.S. Export Administration
Regulations. The Cuban official press predictably (and
hypocritically) took advantage of the situation to criticize
Microsoft's decision as "the latest turn of the screw in the
United States' technological blockage against the island" and
"a truly harsh violation" of Cuba's rights. Publicity around
Microsoft's decision comes at a critical time in U.S.-Cuba
relations as we await the pending implementation of the
policy changes announced by the White House on April 13 to
"authorize greater telecommunications links with Cuba to
advance people-to-people interaction at no cost to the U.S.
government." Furthermore, Claudia Cadelo wrote in her June
10 blog that she had heard rumors that the social networking
site Facebook may follow Microsoft's example. Operating a
Facebook account does not require the user to download any
software. Thus, Facebook does not share the same concerns
related to export restrictions as the downloadable messenger
sites. Per conversations with the Department, Facebook
reported this week that it blocks Cuban access to
applications and advertising, but not to normal social
networking operations. We understand from Cuban contacts
that Cubans continue to successfully access Facebook
accounts, although a local USINT employee tried to sign up
for an account at a hotel on June 17 and received a message
from Facebook that he was "ineligible to sign up."
----------------
INSPIRED BY IRAN
----------------
4. (C) At the same time, Cuban bloggers are paying close
attention to current events in Iran, in particular the use of
social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and mobile phones to
inform and influence domestic and international opinion.
Yoani Sanchez wrote in her blog on June 17 that what is
HAVANA 00000361 002.2 OF 002
happening in Iran and its dissemination through the Internet
is a lesson for Cuban bloggers. Sanchez told us separately
that the use of mobile phones (including iphones) to transmit
information, share blogs, and even access the internet is a
significant and growing phenomenon in Cuba. As a great
source of information hidden by the official press, she also
praised the new service called "Granpa" (www.granpa.info)
that sends news articles to Cuban mobile phones via SMS text
messages (Note: USINT staff have since signed up for this
service and receive several articles a day. As of yet,
neither we nor our contacts know who runs Granpa. End Note.)
She lamented, however, that Cuba was clearly not yet at the
same level of connectivity as Iranian society.
5. (SBU) Cuban dissidents are also following developments in
the cyber community. Well known dissident Oswaldo Paya
published, through the blog Bitacora, a message of solidarity
with the Cuban blogger community in early June. Paya urged
bloggers to "be the voice of those who have no blog" and
congratulated them for "this initiative to proclaim the
people's right to the internet and for their courage in the
struggle for the liberation of truth, which is imprisoned in
Cuba."
---------------------------
COMMENTS AND ACTION REQUEST
---------------------------
6. (C) The Cuban government continues to see the internet as
a threat and remains committed to restricting and controlling
access. Internet communication and social networking sites
are becoming more and more popular in Cuba as a means of
communicating across the island and accessing family,
friends, and information from off the island. This new media
is important not just for increasing people-to-people
contact, but also for helping Cubans share their stories and
as a way to inform, organize, and mobilize civil society.
ACTION REQUEST: Post requests Department assistance in
removing any regulatory obstacles that limit Cuban access to
free internet communications without jeopardizing national
security.
7. (C) Cuban state telecommunications monopoly ETESCA
announced earlier this year that it hopes to add 250,000 new
mobile phone users in 2009, which is nearly twice as many new
subscribers as in 2008 and a 50 percent increase over the
current total (about 470,000). We hear that within days
ETECSA may announce a significant drop in prices for
initiating service and making international calls in an
effort to capture more hard currency. In this context, a
liberal implementation of the changes in U.S. policy
announced on April 13 regarding telecommunications may help
facilitate Iran-style democratic ferment in Cuba.
FARRAR
It does not say that among the US population the sanctions against Cuba are overwhelmingly unpopular. Those in positions of power in the US just want to oppress and somehow get rid of the existing Cuban government, even if they do so by hurting innocent civilians (collateral damage). It is actually part of the strategy, as by making the population upset they hope to incite the population against the government and perhaps overthrow it without outside intervention. █
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Posted in Asia, Europe, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 3:12 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A cable from around the same time of a government deal with Microsoft sheds light on what American diplomats were thinking or plotting
IN EARLY 2009 we showed that Microsoft signed a bizarre deal with the Turkish government, immediately harming the nation’s adoption of GNU/Linux through government-funded efforts such as the Pardus GNU/Linux distribution. Now we have a Cablegate cable from around the same time. It says that Microsoft’s deal “appears to be an opportunistic business development effort presented to President Berdimuhamedov in an attempt to solidify its standing in the local market (reftel). At the same time, the project will provide Microsoft with solid foothold in Turkmenistan’s small, but grossly underserved market.”
Here is the full cable:
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RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2254
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RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1047
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0188
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0237
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 0159
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 0173
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0198
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 0511
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, EAID, ECON, ETRD, TX
SUBJECT: MICROSOFT/POLIMEKS DEVELOPING TURKMEN DICTIONARY
REF: 08 ASHGABAT 483
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) Post has learned that Microsoft, with support from Turkish
construction firm Policom Istanbul (known locally as "Polimeks"),
has apparently agreed to develop a Turkmen language dictionary and
relevant software in cooperation with the Supreme Council on Science
and Technology (SCST) and Turkmenistan's Agricultural University.
The project reportedly will be funded jointly by Polimeks and
Microsoft over a 20-month period beginning in May 2009.
3. (SBU) The local representative of an international donor agency
told Post that President Berdimuhamedov approved the proposal for
Microsoft, with support from Polimeks, to develop the dictionary and
relevant software. He then sent instructions to the SCST to
implement the project. The Academy of Sciences' Translation and
Dictionary Department and the Agricultural University's
International Relations Department will assist in the project.
According to our source, a meeting to discuss the project took place
on January 24 between SCST Deputy Chairwoman Akjeren Allanurova and
the following participants:
-- Isolina Pommier, Microsoft Strategy Manager (Redmond,
Washington);
-- Jim Levi, Microsoft Public Sector Regional Leader, Central &
Eastern Europe (Germany); and
-- Bora Kutla, Assistant General Manager, Policom Istanbul
(Ashgabat).
4. (SBU) COMMENT: Our source, who maintains close contact with a
range of government interlocutors, mentioned that the government
partners for this project have questioned its potential value and
the priority it has received. Taken in the context of Polimeks'
business strategy and recent award to develop a "technopark" in
Ashgabat, Polimeks' involvement appears to be an opportunistic
business development effort presented to President Berdimuhamedov in
an attempt to solidify its standing in the local market (reftel).
At the same time, the project will provide Microsoft with solid
foothold in Turkmenistan's small, but grossly underserved market.
END COMMENT.
MILES
“Translation” is a Trojan horse we’ve seen Microsoft use in south America and Africa (countries like Peru or Chile). Microsoft ignores markets and languages and when they start moving to GNU/Linux Microsoft suddenly makes some linguistics-esque announcement and roars very loud for those countries to abandon their GNU/Linux efforts. This usually works. █
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Posted in Microsoft, Search at 2:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The exodus of Microsoft managers picks up pace as more and more of them flee to other companies
In the previous post we saw the departure of Microsoft Corporate Vice President Linda Zecher. While researching her exit we also found out that, according to the ‘Microsoft press’, there are some other departures that escaped as much media attention although we managed to find appropriate links, the majority of which come from Microsoft boosters [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. According to Microsoft-friendly sources, one “left the company this week. Pell came to Microsoft in 2008 after Microsoft acquired search and natural-language company Powerset, where Pell was founder and CEO.” Microsoft also lost leaders of acquired companies such as TellMe. They don’t want to stay at Microsoft while the companies they built from scratch get ruined by Microsoft.
According to those same Microsoft-friendly sources, another important person is leaving, but they downplay the damage. “Mendlen isn’t completely severing his Microsoft ties,” they allege, “he has been appointed chief marketing officer of DevExpress, a Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP). According to a statement from DevExpress, Mendlen will assume his new role on Sept. 10.” They say he did “evangelism”, which is Microsoft’s euphemistic term for AstroTurfing. Here are more articles about it [1, 2, 3].
We ought to stress that there are many more like them who left without us noticing because we no longer look at Microsoft closely. When we watched Microsoft closely, especially around 2009 and part of 2010, we compiled a list that shows the high pace of departure. Microsoft’s revolving doors are a carousel. Why are people escaping? How bad does it look from the inside? █
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Posted in Microsoft at 1:52 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Another one bites the dust at Microsoft (after just two years in the role), which shows the vulnerability of this company which is unable to keep its senior staff in tact
Just a day or so before Microsoft gave another sign that it had evolved into an embarrassingly-unethical extortion company, another Vice President (among many whom we no longer keep track of) called it quits:
HMH announced on September 6 that Zecher will become CEO and a Director there as of September 19.
Zecher became the Worldwide Public Sector chief at Microsoft in January 2009.
Here is the press release and some press coverage:
Thanks to the aonymous reader who sent us a headsup about it.
“Microsoft Brain Drain Continues as Public Sector VP Departs” says the headline from the VAR Guy. █
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Posted in America, Europe, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 1:19 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Letting the US manage the UK digitally
Summary: The British government misses an opportunity to employ Computer Science students who are eager to lay their hands on source code; instead it continues to sign cheques for Microsoft and under pressure it makes the mere promise of “evaluating” an open source vendor
NOT so long ago we wrote about government procurement in the UK, noting that unfair bidding processes were excluding Free software. As we have already shown, sections of the public sector, including BECTA and the NHS for example, have been deep in Microsoft’s pocket. Microsoft and its allies are bullying smaller companies out of the room, just like in South Africa. Such cartel-like practices should be investigated, but they never come close to any substantial scrutiny. If someone complains about this, a fatwa/SLAPP gets used to silence the complainer. The UK is very libel lawsuits-friendly.
There are many articles about the subject of the UK government snubbing Free software. The most prominent one was in the BBC (from Rory) although there are some other reports that we put in our daily links. Here are some of the latest and belated ones:
1. UK Gov Struggling with Open Source, Spending Heavily on Proprietary Software
Despite its promise to embrace open source software for cutting down IT expenditures, the UK government has been consistently paying a hefty amount on proprietary technologies, a new report claims.
The matter was brought in to daylight by BBC after it had filed a Freedom of Information request as a part of its investigation to highlight the government’s policies regarding software procurement.
The BBC report states that despite making bold claims about embracing open source software products, the government continues to rely heavily on the bigger firms and their proprietary products.
2. Whitehall breaks open source promise
Many departments in Whitehall appear to have given up on promises to spend more on open source, and are instead continuing to lay out huge sums on proprietary software.
Following a number of BBC freedom of information requests it has been revealed millions are still being spent on software from big name vendors.
This is despite claims from Francis Maude that there will be a ‘level playing field’, centred around the government’s promises to slash public spending. Even the Queen’s neighbourhood has been looking to the cheap alternative.
These people are giving themselves another chance after betraying voters, according to this article which says “UK.gov works on YET ANOTHER open-source push”:
Yet another government definition for the term “open standards” is incoming because the Home Office isn’t satisfied with the current wording of its so-called Action Plan.
The department’s IT wonk Tariq Rashid confirmed at an open source forum in Oxford yesterday that the government had been “lobbying against” the current definition for open standards, and added that a new version was set to be published by the end of 2011.
At the TransferSummit event he spoke about how a policy to encourage open source, open standards and re-use of software across central and local government had been mulled over since 2004 without any real action kicking in. And that’s despite several redrafts.
[...]
Rashid said that within the next year, all gov departments would have a mandatory requirement to demonstrate they had fairly evaluated an open source vendor for any new software procurement.
Well, we shall see. Words are cheap. Romania used a similar trick to pretend that it at least consider Free software as well. This does not oblige one to make such a choice, just to say it was “evaluated”. Corrupt procurement processes are much of what we’ll show in upcoming leaked diplomatic cable. It helps to have a lot of evidence. █
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu at 12:54 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Mono and projects that are built with Mono are hardly maintained anymore, and some officially die
THE cult of Mono lost much of its following when it lost its sugar daddy, Novell. Banshee has not been updated in ages (it was a Novell project) and its lead developer left Novell too. According to Joey Sneddon, the Novell employee who worked on Pinta has officially given up, so we are seeing a trend here. Mono and Mono-based project from Novell staff are dropping like flies and the sooner Ubuntu realises this, the better. No distribution of GNU/Linux has a compelling reason to still preinstall the bloat which is Mono. Well, no distribution except Microsoft-sponsored ones like SUSE. Several weeks ago SUSE announced special relationship with the Mono startup, Xamarin. OpenSUSE 12.1 is now reaching beta and obviously it will include Mono.
In other news about Novell/SUSE, there is an event coming next month. The now-acquired VAR Guy writes: “6. Novell BrainShare (Oct. 10-14, Salt Lake City, Utah): Now owned by Attachmate, Novell needs to clearly communicate its partner strategy to three communities: SUSE Linux resellers, traditional Novell partners, and NetIQ partners. Those three communities now manage various products that were previously under a single Novell umbrella.” Except for Microsoft, who are those SUSE Linux resellers? █
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Posted in Microsoft at 12:35 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Concerns about Microsoft’s analysis of people’s real names using acquisitions that also notify Microsoft of people’s relationships and private conversations
INTRUSION with an extra tinge of spying (even from foreign secret agencies) is the last thing anyone needs. But as we explained back when Microsoft bought Skype [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], the shift to the United States makes this inevitable. It’s bad enough for Microsoft competitors who used Skype (and can now be eavesdropped and their account history studied). Matt Asay further alleges that Microsoft will use Skype as an identity tracking tool. “Now that Microsoft has picked up Skype in an $8.5 billion deal,” he explains, “let’s hope that it appreciates what eBay never did: Skype is more valuable as an identity tool than as a VOIP service. Identity is the Holy Grail for the Internet, which is why Google and Facebook desperately want users to be themselves, and not a pseudonym.”
“Too much tracking, with Microsoft watching over the operating system (no longer just Windows), is a recipe for trouble.”Now, add the fact that there are reports of a “Trojan which masquerades as a Microsoft utility.” There are many like these all the time, but this is just the latest. How long before People’s conversations and personal information leak through Microsoft’s pipes and reach the wrong person? It enables blackmail and all sorts of nasty things. Too much tracking, with Microsoft watching over the operating system (no longer just Windows), is a recipe for trouble. This in its own right provides the US government with motivation to support the Microsoft monopoly. It helps US intelligence. █
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