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We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#21

Post by swebs »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #18
singularity2001 wrote: post #5

By subverting privacy Microsoft is a threat to democracy itself.

This is a non sequitur. It is not clear that privacy (specifically privacy of data on Microsoft systems from court order, if that's what you mean) is necessary for democracy. On the other hand, the ability to unmask people who are subverting elections is useful for democracy.

>It is not clear that privacy (specifically privacy of data on Microsoft systems from court order, if that's what you mean) is necessary for democracy

Microsoft has included a keylogger [1] in Windows 10 that's enabled by default. Everything you type from a Windows computer is stored on their systems. They also "may" collect data from your microphone. Every modern Windows computer is essentially a wiretap. And all that is just one warrant away from government agencies. They're collecting more info on you than the KGB could ever dream of.

[1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2974057/windows/how-to-turn-...

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#22

Post by rubzah »

montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

"It’s clear that democracies around the world are under attack. Foreign entities are launching cyber strikes to disrupt elections and sow discord. Unfortunately, the internet has become an avenue for some governments to steal and leak information, spread disinformation, and probe and potentially attempt to tamper with voting systems. We saw this during the United States general election in 2016, last May during the F…

There are more and bigger "threats to democracy" (whatever that means) than what they are cherry picking here, which indeed makes this a very politically charged initiative.

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#23

Post by pjc50 »

This is great, but I'd like to know if it extends in the other direction; one of the great ironies of the Trump Administration has been the wrecking of the State Department, who along with the CIA have had a habit of getting involved in the elections of other countries. Up to and including replacing democratically-elected socialists with military dictatorships.

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#24

Post by EDSP »

"...It’s clear that democracies around the world are under attack..." Yup, and it's very clear which country is responsible for performing most of those attacks. Is Microsoft offering any solutions to protect the rest of the world too?: "...the country intervening in most foreign elections is the United States with 81 interventions, followed by Russia (including the former Soviet Union) with 36 interventions from 1946 to 2000 - an average of once in every nine competitive elections..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_electoral_intervention

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#25

Post by swebs »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #20
swebs wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. This is the same Microosoft that collects keystrokes, webcam footage, browsing behavior, file system use, and dozens of other analytics from every computer running Windows. And now they're pushing to have government officials dependant on them. They have a million times more data than Cambridge Analytica at this point. Who knows how much damage they could do?

> This is the same Microosoft that collects keystrokes, webcam footage, browsing behavior, file system use, and dozens of other analytics from every computer running Windows. {{Citation needed}}

>"Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device. Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more.”

>But this is not all, as this piece of software also analyses undefined “speech data”: “we collect your voice input, as well your name and nickname, your recent calendar events and the names of the people in your appointments, and information about your contacts including names and nicknames.

>But Microsoft’s updated privacy policy is not only bad news for privacy. Your free speech rights can also be violated on an ad hoc basis as the company warns:

>“We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to”, for example, “protect their customers” or “enforce the terms governing the use of the services”.

https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-persona...

>How to turn off Windows 10's keylogger (yes, it still has one)

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2974057/windows/how-to-turn-...

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#26

Post by lern_too_spel »

swebs wrote: post #25
lern_too_spel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the same Microosoft that collects keystrokes, webcam footage, browsing behavior, file system use, and dozens of other analytics from every computer running Windows. {{Citation needed}}

>"Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device. Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is…

"Microsoft does not collect any personal information via inking or typing.... The data is put through rigorous, multi-pass scrubs to ensure it does not collect sensitive or identifiable fields (e.g., no email addresses, passwords, alpha-numerical data, etc.). Data is also chopped into very small bits and stripped of sequence data so it cannot be put back together or identified. The data samplings collected are limited; Microsoft is not capturing everything you write, nor is it capturing data every time."

https://lifehacker.com/what-windows-10s-privacy-nightmare-se...

So the keylogger part (your claim "everything you type from a Windows computer is stored on their systems") isn't true. Anything to back up your webcam claim? Your rant about what Cortana collects is necessary for Cortana to do its job, just as storing emails is necessary for an email service to do its job.

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#27

Post by curiousgal »

pjc50 wrote: post #23

This is great, but I'd like to know if it extends in the other direction; one of the great ironies of the Trump Administration has been the wrecking of the State Department, who along with the CIA have had a habit of getting involved in the elections of other countries. Up to and including replacing democratically-elected socialists with military dictatorships.

I think another proof that the U.S. is not about spreading democracy but only seeking it's economical interested is illustrated by Tunisia. The tiny nation is the only democracy in North Africa and is struggling economically. If the U.S. were adamant about supporting democracy, the obvious thing to do is to ensure that Tunisia succeeds in becoming a full democracy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index#/media/File%...

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#28

Post by iamleppert »

This is nothing more than a thinly veiled Office 365 marketing ploy.

If their 2FA is anything like what they’ve done with Azure I wouldn’t be holding my breath. Microsoft is barely out on parole in my eyes from their horrid security and privacy track record, and has shown many signs of recividism to be engaging in this charade.

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#29

Post by ionised »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #18
singularity2001 wrote: post #5

By subverting privacy Microsoft is a threat to democracy itself.

This is a non sequitur. It is not clear that privacy (specifically privacy of data on Microsoft systems from court order, if that's what you mean) is necessary for democracy. On the other hand, the ability to unmask people who are subverting elections is useful for democracy.

> It is not clear that privacy (specifically privacy of data on Microsoft systems from court order, if that's what you mean) is necessary for democracy.

How would democracy ever work if people had no privacy?

Re: We are taking new steps against broadening threats to democracy

#30

Post by ionised »

zaarn wrote: post #17

It's seems this is quite an acceptable plan to move forward. MS doesn't seem to plan to intervene in local politics, merely shield against foreign politics intervening in local politics. Especially when you offer those services in foreign countries, the other players seem to fail spectacularly.

Microsoft gets involved in domestic politics all the time.
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