Privacy, Microsoft and Bush....?

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Author Message   Ntfs_encryption AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Ntfs_encryption Post Number: 91 Registered: 10-2005 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 03:28 pm:        If don't already know it, then you should be made aware-- You can't trust Microsoft when it comes to your privacy. Microsoft has allowed the government to build backdoors into every "security" device it ever sold. That means that you may think your email that uses Microsoft supplied encryption is private: but Microsoft provided a key to the government that allows it to"open a back door" into all of its security software, and therefore, into everything you do. Furthermore, all documents created by Microsoft software have hidden codes that will trace the document right back to the computer that it was created on. Microsoft software can be used as government spy tool. This is an undeniable technical fact and not a left wing conspiracy urban myth. Just when you thought you were safe. George Orwell’s classic novel “1984” has come to reality in our life time. With the compliance of Google, Microsoft, et al, the Bush administration is into full swing with it’s relentless dismantling of all civil liberties and privacy that we once enjoyed. Microsoft Defends Handing Over Search Data Some have criticized Microsoft and the other companies who gave information to the Justice Department as giving in too easily. Microsoft countered that it's still protecting its customers' privacy because it provided some aggregated logs that listed queries and how often they occurred. By Antone Gonsalves TechWeb News Jan 23, 2006 03:48 PM Microsoft Corp. has defended its decision to provide search data to federal prosecutors trying to revive an anti-pornography law ruled unconstitutional, saying it "tried to strike the right balance in a very sensitive matter." Last Thursday, America Online Inc., Microsoft's MSN, Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. acknowledged that they received subpoenas from the Justice Department, which is trying to revive the 1998 Child Online Protection Act that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo acknowledged handing over search data to the government; Google has refused and intends to fight, saying the Bush administration's requests are too broad. The day after the disclosure, Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., said in its MSN Search Weblog that its actions were consistent with the "principle statement: privacy of our customers is non-negotiable and something worth fighting to protect," said Ken Moss, general manager of MSN Web Search. Microsoft and the other companies who handed information over to the Justice Department were criticized by some experts as giving in too easily. In defending itself, Microsoft explained that it provided a random sample of pages from its search index and some aggregated query logs that listed queries and how often they occurred. The data revealed how frequently some query terms occurred, but could not be used to link queries to an IP address or to look for people who queried for specific terms. An IP address is an identifier for a device attached to the Internet. "Absolutely no personal data was involved," Moss said. In providing the data, the company "tried to strike the right balance in a very sensitive matter." COPA was meant to shield minors from Web sites that offer sexually explicit content. The high court struck down provisions that required sites to offer such content only to registered users or to people who signed-in first, saying that filtering software is sufficient to keep the content away from children. In seeking the search data, government lawyers are hoping to show a federal court in Pennsylvania that sexually explicit material is easily accessible through search engines and is not adequately blocked by filters. ----------------- German Military to Replace Microsoft Software windowsitpro.com Germany's military, Bundeswehr, said it plans to remove all Microsoft software from its systems and replace it with software developed by Siemens and Duetsche Telecom. German newspaper Der Spiegel said the country suspects that the US National Security Agency (NSA) might have backdoor access into Microsoft's software. According to the news report, Bundeswehr will stop using all American software. In addition, the German government had been working on a videoconferencing solution to connect overseas embassies when it learned that those conferences would be routed through ground stations in Denver, Colorado. This discovery prompted Germany to halt the videoconferencing project. Der Spiegel said Siemens and Duetsche Telecom will produce a secure, proprietary system specifically for the German government's use, which is expected to include videoconferencing capabilities.   Mrs_hart "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Mrs_hart Post Number: 129 Registered: 01-2006 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 03:35 pm:        Yes, I read about this yesterday. I mean, Bill Gates must have gotten his arse WHOOPED real good by Republicans the last time. I also read a few months back that printers had a code on them that identified where the copy originated. I can't remember if it was Hewlett-Packard or whoever, but once the news got out they QUIT the encoding.