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Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

pcmag.com

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Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#61

Post by lukifer »

scrrr wrote: post #58
acqq wrote: post #3

This is a financial disaster waiting to happen. Microsoft is oblivious if it is not doing something to divorce itself from the NSA. Apple, on the other hand, could have come out smelling like a rose, but following the death of Steve Jobs, who apparently refused to play ball with the NSA, it stupidly jumped on board to join the PRISM club. According to the Prism slides, it really looks so: "Dates when Prism collection…

How do you know it was Steve Jobs that prevented Apple from joining earlier? Perhaps Apple just wasn't a priority for the NSA until 2012.

It's conjecture, but it's likely. Apple as a company has put a high value on user privacy, which was heavily influenced by Steve. He was also known for maintaining a high degree of personal privacy for such a public figure (for instance, refusing to put plates on his car).

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#62

Post by alan_cx »

mtgx wrote: post #5
acqq wrote: post #3

This is a financial disaster waiting to happen. Microsoft is oblivious if it is not doing something to divorce itself from the NSA. Apple, on the other hand, could have come out smelling like a rose, but following the death of Steve Jobs, who apparently refused to play ball with the NSA, it stupidly jumped on board to join the PRISM club. According to the Prism slides, it really looks so: "Dates when Prism collection…

That reminds me of Putin a little bit. Even if you think some leader is an asshole, sometimes you need an asshole to stand up to an even bigger bully. I just imagine someone like former president Medvedev (and with no Putin in sight) would've offered Snowden to US government on a silver platter, just like France, Spain, Portugal and Italy tried to do (fortunately unsuccessfully). I remember I was very much against Pu…

For those who know Formula 1, I think Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley are the sort of examples that might work. Of course, some would say they are and were the bullies that needed standing up to. Heh, I suppose that gets us to the terrorist / freedom fighter type debate!!!

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#63

Post by falk »

scrrr wrote: post #58
acqq wrote: post #3

This is a financial disaster waiting to happen. Microsoft is oblivious if it is not doing something to divorce itself from the NSA. Apple, on the other hand, could have come out smelling like a rose, but following the death of Steve Jobs, who apparently refused to play ball with the NSA, it stupidly jumped on board to join the PRISM club. According to the Prism slides, it really looks so: "Dates when Prism collection…

How do you know it was Steve Jobs that prevented Apple from joining earlier? Perhaps Apple just wasn't a priority for the NSA until 2012.

Steve Jobs went through a background check for a top-level security check in the 80s. I wonder if he ever received it?

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/06/steve-jobs-security...

I find it hard to believe that the NSA didn't see one of the most valuable and popular companies in the world as a priority until 2012. I bet they were salivating as soon as the first iPhone launched.

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#65

Post by igravious »

p37307 wrote: post #48

I think it is time to rethink everything, Not just Microsoft. Cloud computing is at risk now too. From Amazon to Google Drive, Gmail, etc. Shared hosting is not even secure any longer. Our connections from our isp can be the source of their spying. People want the ease of computing not secure computing. The polls show it. In the US everyone but the geeks are OK with the NSA. Sad. The system is going to have to change…

I agree, something like this needs to be done. It will take a lot of work. I think the free software/ open-source movement is robust enough that we can turn our attention to this. Copyleft and free software licenses are social hacks that work in tandem with the free software model. We perhaps need a social hack to underpin this federated data model.

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#66

Post by falk »

yuhong wrote: post #10
mikevm wrote: post #7

Dvorak's article is a regurgitation of previous HN discussions on this topic. I have said in the previous HN post and I will say it again here: don't pile on Microsoft alone. These spying policies make every US-based services company untrustworthy to whomever privacy is important. Come to think of it, I'm not sure whether you can rely on European services either because it seems that gov't surveillance is widespread.…

Yea, remember that PRISM is designed to target foreign communications, so if you are an American, you might be actually safer.

You're accidentally mixing PRISM with the most recent leaks that say Microsoft has given the NSA ways to bypass encryption methods and so forth.

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#67

Post by xiaoma »

This reminds me of Ken Thompson's famous Turing Award paper from 1984. In that paper, he described a malicious compiler that added security holes to properly written C programs.

The real question isn't about whether you can trust Microsoft. It's can you even trust Intel?

"The moral is obvious. You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself. (Especially code from companies that employ people like me.) No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code. In demonstrating the possibility of this kind of attack, I picked on the C compiler. I could have picked on any program-handling program such as an assembler, a loader, or even hardware microcode. As the level of program gets lower, these bugs will be harder and harder to detect. A well installed microcode bug will be almost impossible to detect."

http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#68

Post by toble »

kayoone wrote: post #36
LinaLauneBaer wrote: post #9

A couple of years ago at a Linux conference in Germany I had a discussion with a Microsoft employee at their booth. At that time I was a 'hardcore' linux user with no trust in Microsoft at all. The discussion with the employee went like this: Me: "Hello. Could you tell me what Microsoft is doing at this Linux conference? I honestly want to know that." Him: "We are here to show how our products can work well together…

A couple of years ago some microsoft sales employee probably didnt know about any of this. Also he is talking about mostly self-hosted MS services and i doubt the NSA really has access to that. Also found your conversation style to be quite cocky.

Yep. If someone represents company X at a conference, then consider yourself lucky if they are actually an employee - never mind an informed employee with a high standing in the organisation.

Re: Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft

#69

Post by klearvue »

rasur wrote: post #16
areski wrote: post #8

Linux for all the things! That's the only viable solution

One wonders how tainted Linux is, if one considers systems including SELinux. Yes, I realise the point of SELinux is to make it more secure, but the association with the NSA (they created it) makes it very difficult to trust.

What can you possibly mean? It's open source i.e. code is available to anyone's inspection.
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