I hope Microsoft will keep records on every single word I ever write so I can and other people can search for and find it. If laws are passed by Congress, Microsoft or anyone else has to follow them. The truth of the matter is there is a dangerous, life threatening, organized criminal element, which can find out anything they want to about anyone else. It’s called the Advertising Agencies.

Did you know that Advertising Agencies can, entirely without regulation, access your medical devices over the networks? Did you know that nearly all programming in any medium is paid for by Advertisers? Did you know that Advertising Agencies are the largest lobby of Congress? Did you know that Advertising Agencies are the arm of big business and also Mossad, the Israeli Spy Agency? Did you know they can stop your pacemaker?

I support Microsoft’s efforts, especially their campaign with Microsoft.dna, which has done more for the FBI to catch and imprison child molesters, child pornography rings, and rapists/kidnappers/murderers/torturers of children than any other software in history. They are taking down the criminal gangs, not trying to read your emails.

The whole debate about “privacy” is a misnomer. What is needed desperately is a way to definitively establish and maintain your identity in all communications media and have a way to measure re-routing, filtering and the deadly, search and replace functions. These put people onto terrorism watch lists and create files of disinformation on people. They have no recourse to defend themselves against any accusation, because they are anonymous victims with no way to obtain records and redress grievances. “In the future, we will all die from hearsay”.

For a great article on the need for establishing identity, see: Privacy Issues: Avoiding Becoming A Victim Of Online Crime
ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2008) by the International Journal of Property Management on ScienceDaily.com (sorry, link broken!)

All of your phone calls are being re-routed through Israel and over 10% of the world was attacked by the Chinese military and is now behind their firewall. Sony infected almost every computer there is with spyware, for which they were convicted in a Texas Court, before Cheney decided they would make a good business partner and classified it. Wiley Rein, the attorneys for Trust e sold proprietary information and “one on one access” to advertising agencies and the pedophile, Howard Stern as part of their so-called work for the “Government Spy Program”, obtained immunity, then refused to turn over records for their client AT&T, while lobbying congress with billions to oppose Net Neutrality.

It is not Microsoft or Google, both of which had to ask for help from the NSA, but the ISP’s who are, with the telcos, re-routing, stealing and selling your information to Advertising Agencies and others, without your permission. They claim they are protecting your privacy, however this is blatantly false.

For a real wake up call into the tidal wave of neuromarketing coming soon to your brain with no “off switch” by Advertising Agencies, see this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609102028.htm

As much as I agree with you, your comment has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of this article.

http://www.modernbandit.com/2010/02/microsoft-cyber-army-judicial-power-to.html

Most sysadmins at least are cognizant about security even if they forget something, get lazy, or get too busy to get to it. When they do, Linux boxes get rooted.

Most homeowners know and want to know as much about computers as their car. They just want it to run, and most drivers would be hard pressed to find a dipstick never mind such trivially easy tasks as changing oil, rotating tires, and replacing brake pads they’ll usually either pay a mechanic to do it, or won’t pay and don’t care to learn how so the car just rots for lack of care.

Why? Simply because about 100% of all botnet machines are running Microsoft Windows.

Now why is that? Because MS Windows is so widespread? Or because MS Windows is deployed so much by people who haven’t the foggiest notion of how to secure their machine (or simply don’t care)? Or because MS Windows’ architecture and default setting guarantee that it’s is so insecure?

Just consider this: about 60% of all web servers aren’t running MS Windows. They’re running Linux. And those machines certainly aren’t compromised more often than MS Windows machines. Quite the contrary in fact. So it’s unlikely that Microsoft’s near 100% market share in compromised machines is due to its market share.

There is a very legitimate point of view that says that Microsoft are solely responsible for the rise of botnets because they purvey operating systems that are so easy to compromise. One may or may not agree with this viewpoint, but to portray Microsoft as anti-botnet champion smacks too much of chutzpa to my taste.

And then the way in which Microsoft achieved this. If there ever was a case of legal sandbagging, this is it. Microsoft sneakily ensured that it appeared alone in front of the court to argue its case and to move for the suspension of a number of domains. Is that a precedent we would wish to see followed? That a big corporation can institute a secret trial against anonymous internet participants and get an injunction kicking them off the net?

Now I’m as happy as the next computer user to see a botnet being taken down, but this price is too steep for me. Far too steep.

And last but not least, according to Spamhaus this was a fairly small fish, accounting for about 1% of all spam. So could we save the self-congratulary press releases for when there is something substantial to report?