4 ms·

Nadella has just said that he would support a "don't-call-it-a-backdoor" backdoor key for the U.S. (and I assume other) government(s): https://www.theverge.com

by mtgx 7y ago

Nadella has just said that he would support a "don't-call-it-a-backdoor" backdoor key for the U.S. (and I assume other) government(s): https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/13/21064267/microsoft-encryption-backdoor-apple-ceo-nadella-pensacola-privacy https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/13/21064267/microsoft-encryp... Also, there are at least several other instances that make Microsoft highly suspicious in regards to this stuff, starting with: - how they bought Skype not long after the NSA was promising billions of dollars (in government contracts most likely) to the company that would bypass Skype's encryption somehow - changing Skype's architecture to be intercept-able - Skype entering the PRISM program the moment Microsoft bought it - some other suspicious "bugs" and design choices in regards to how Bitlocker works, including storing the encryption keys on its servers or defaulting to break-able OEM encryption. Plus the fact that you never do hear about law enforcement being thwarted by laptop encryption - silently adding root certificates in Windows with no official documentation, some for some oppressive regimes, other for the U.S. government - Not to mention that the first thought that came to my mind after hearing about all the hidden tracking stuff built into Windows 10 was that Windows 10 must have been designed based on a FBI/NSA wishlist. If you've ever done anything "wrong" on your Windows 10 machine, the U.S. government will know about it, because Microsoft will know about it. At least Microsoft revealed to us that half of the government's orders to the company were secret and came with gag orders -- too bad they never really fought the government on it and ended-up supporting it with the Cloud Act. There are probably others I missed myself or forgot about. Nadella must think of us all as idiots if he thinks we'll buy the idea that a specially-made encryption key for various governments doesn't equal a backdoor.

jki275 7y ago
Where do you believe MS is storing all this tracking data you believe they are taking from every Windows 10 machine on the planet? Doesn't this conspiracy theory stretch belief a great deal?
- mrguyorama 7y ago
  The NSA has built absolutely fuck off massive datacenters in multiple places in the United States. The parent is suggesting the telemetry from Windows 10 is mostly getting passed off to the NSA
  - jki275 7y ago
    That's a nice conspiracy theory, but that doesn't make it any less absurd.
    - ta999999171 7y ago
      ^Willful ignorance. Sorry, but if you've been reading, there's just no other explanation.
    - ta999999171 7y ago
      Props for at least knowing the difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory, though, unlike half of the internet.
    - mtgx 7y ago
      You mean just like the carriers passing the data through their cables to specially made "NSA forts" is absurd? https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hubs/ https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hub... I actually didn't say that Microsoft is directly passing all the data to NSA, just that the NSA (and FBI, and DEA, and IRS, etc) can request that data on anyone at anytime, and it's half of the time a secret request with a gag order. But now that you mention it, there is a non-zero chance that Microsoft could pass some of the data directly to the US government, too, but maybe just for some services, like Skype. Also "all that telemetry data" is probably counted in tens or hundreds of TBs a year, which is nothing for a company like MS or an agency like the NSA. Telemetry doesn't take that much space, just a few strings for each event. Are you completely unaware of the fact that Microsoft does collect telemetry on every app you open, every file you have on your PC, every search you do (locally), and other stuff like that? Because that's exactly what they're doing -- Bing it, if you will. Do you think they're tracking all that data without actually storing it and analyzing it?

by mtgx 7y ago

jki275 7y ago

Where do you believe MS is storing all this tracking data you believe they are taking from every Windows 10 machine on the planet? Doesn't this conspiracy theory stretch belief a great deal?

mrguyorama 7y ago
The NSA has built absolutely fuck off massive datacenters in multiple places in the United States. The parent is suggesting the telemetry from Windows 10 is mostly getting passed off to the NSA
- jki275 7y ago
  That's a nice conspiracy theory, but that doesn't make it any less absurd.
  - ta999999171 7y ago
    ^Willful ignorance. Sorry, but if you've been reading, there's just no other explanation.
  - ta999999171 7y ago
    Props for at least knowing the difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory, though, unlike half of the internet.
  - mtgx 7y ago
    You mean just like the carriers passing the data through their cables to specially made "NSA forts" is absurd? https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hubs/ https://theintercept.com/2018/06/25/att-internet-nsa-spy-hub... I actually didn't say that Microsoft is directly passing all the data to NSA, just that the NSA (and FBI, and DEA, and IRS, etc) can request that data on anyone at anytime, and it's half of the time a secret request with a gag order. But now that you mention it, there is a non-zero chance that Microsoft could pass some of the data directly to the US government, too, but maybe just for some services, like Skype. Also "all that telemetry data" is probably counted in tens or hundreds of TBs a year, which is nothing for a company like MS or an agency like the NSA. Telemetry doesn't take that much space, just a few strings for each event. Are you completely unaware of the fact that Microsoft does collect telemetry on every app you open, every file you have on your PC, every search you do (locally), and other stuff like that? Because that's exactly what they're doing -- Bing it, if you will. Do you think they're tracking all that data without actually storing it and analyzing it?