MS Settles With FTC Over Passport Privacy Complaints

There will be a number of stories out shortly (here's an early one) noting that Microsoft has settled with the FTC over privacy complaints relating to Microsoft Passport. Short summary: Microsoft made lots of false representations about the security of Passport, and collected more information than it disclosed in its privacy policy, and now must be penalized in the usual Microsoft fashion - they must promise not to do it again. The FTC's settlement page has the complaint and settlement documents. We've covered this extensively - All Your Bits Are Belong to Us, EPIC's complaints about the integration of Windows XP and Passport, Microsoft Defends Passport, EPIC pushing state attorneys general to act against Passport, etc. In fact EPIC has an entire page devoted to Passport. The FTC settlement requires two main things: that Microsoft adopt basic security practices (what were they doing before?), and that Microsoft be audited by a third-party to assure compliance - perhaps it will be TrustE, since Passport's privacy policy remains approved by TrustE.

Comments

Promises, promises, promises

[yeoua]

"and now must be penalized in the usual Microsoft fashion - they must promise not to do it again."

I hope Bill Gates wasn't crossing his finger behind his back...

Better make sure and force him into a pinky swear and swear his soul to the dark lord.... er, too late, nevermind.

Re:Promises, promises, promises

[Maran]

"swear his soul to the dark lord"

Can he swear his soul to himself?

Maran

It's funny because... oh nevermind.

[kabir]

See, it was a joke... it's funny because kicking my cube wall doesn't accomplish anything... see? And yet it feels like that accomplishes more than any effort to reign in Microsoft... ha ha... wit and all.

Well, I'll get it right one day ;)

Funny....

[ImaLamer]

I'm watching MSNBC and I don't seem to notice the news.....

Dark Lord?

[ImaLamer]

One password to rule them all,
in the darkness,
one password to bind them.

To the race of men Borgates gave them
passwords which would give them power
over e-mail log-ins and on-line shopping
sites.

But there was one password crafted by the
dark lord Borgates which controlled them ....

Re:Dark Lord?

[Maran]

3.11 Rings to the Elves, perhaps, and DOS 7.0 to the Dwarfs (What Win95 calls it's DOS, IIRC).

And are you comparing Washington state to Mordor? And if so, can throwing a copy of WinXP into the fires of Mount St Helen's break his power?

Maran

Re:Dark Lord?

[Kierthos]

Nine megs for the secretaries fair,
Seven megs for the hackers scarce,
Five megs for the grads in smoky lairs,
Three megs for the system source.

One disk to rule them all,
One disk to bind them,
One disk to hold the files,
And in the darkness grind them.
In the lands of Redmond, where the shadows lie.
-Unknown

Kierthos

Re:Dark Lord?

[Spruce Moose]

Jeez, what's wrong with our moderators, calling lame geek crap like this "%s?"

I have an idea: How about saving "%s" mods for articles that actually ARE %s?

Just a thought.

:-P

Re:Ha

[r00tarded]

or if its developed in .asp

Bill Gates in the Princess Bride

[MacGod]

Bill Gates: "Security!"

General Public: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Re:In A country where the rich pilfer our savings

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is it we're at war against this week?

Eurasia?

No, we're at war with Eastasia. We've always been at war with Eastasia.

~~~

Re:In A country where the rich pilfer our savings

[jazman_777]

It's amazing to me how many people (especially those *in* the US) can't see this coming. How many people think that the US is, and always will be, indestructable. Sure, we can make great speeches and pull together for terrorism, but our government ``for the people'' is being run for the advancement of large corporations instead. I've always wondered what was going to befall this country, and government corruption seems like it will top the list.

I thought all we had to do was sing "God Bless America" at the top of every hour and stick some "Power of Pride" stickers on our cars and everything would turn out all right, just like they in the movies. Where did I go wrong?!