Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Denies HTTPS Shutdown Was Intentional
jbrodkin writes "Microsoft acknowledged that Hotmail's HTTPS encryption service was shut off for users in some countries, but denied that it was because of an intentional ploy to limit email security in countries that have experienced anti-government protests and limits on freedom of expression. 'We do not intentionally limit support by region or geography and this issue was not restricted to any specific region of the world,' Microsoft said. Syria, Morocco, Bahrain, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Algeria were among the affected countries, but the problem is now resolved."
I'm not sure in what context I can imagine MS agreeing to turn off HTTPS to serve these dictators. There are better ways to help a dictator than change something that everyone can clearly see.
I don't know how many years on this Earth I got left. I'm going to get real weird with it. - Frank Reynolds
With this 'accidental' shutdown, microsoft successfully covered all of the countries that were experiencing unrest .... That would be hard even with an i.t. department hell bent on pulling that off intentionally.
Read radical news here
Derp.
There were people who RTFA and sources (unlike the /. editor who accepted it) the first time around who posted this information in the comments section. There never should have been a story in the first place.
From TFA: "The HTTPS option had also been disabled in Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan."
"Hotmail users in the affected countries can turn the always-use-HTTPS feature back on by changing the country in their profile to any of the countries in which this feature has not been disabled, such as the United States, Germany, France, Israel or Turkey,"
--------
Sounds "regional" to me *cough*
I like when large multinational corporations give us such inspiring choices.
I think I threw up a little.
--
BMO
Was it that believable? Wow, I might have a career as a professional M$ shill. I wonder how much they pay?
People who had opted into HTTPS in all these countries could still use it. It's just that other users couldn't opt in. And they fixed it quickly when it was brought up. Why would anyone suppose it was intentional? And the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and Fiji were also affected. I suppose Microsoft was sucking up to their dictators?
1. turn off https
2. ???
3. Profit
use MS products.
Be seeing you...
probably not too much, or they'd be more believable.
personally i suspect some botman is trying to land a job at MS with all this.
I'm surprised to see all the people jumping to the defense of Microsoft. Wow.
Let's see...
1.) they accidentally turned off all the encryption in all the countries that are trying to overthrow their government
2.) the current governments are very very very rich and powerful
3.) it's all because of a "bug" and has nothing to do with these government at all (a couple of extra countries are thrown in to "prove" it's not on purpose)
Ya right. lol
So you think that Microsoft is now gone completely ethical and wouldn't do such a thing to seal up a bunch of software deals for these countries? And would they do something so visible like turn off encryption? Umm... ya! Look at all the people posting who buy into Microsoft "amazing coincidence" hotmail bug. Point made. Never underestimate marketing, propaganda, and "experts". Also, remember Microsoft track record for arrogance (they think that you are all dumbasses) and thinking they are untouchable.
Let me just make this crystal clear. If it was legal for Microsoft (or any other multinational corporation) to act like a dictator and it would make a ton of cash, they would act just like a dictator.
I am scared by the fact that they _can_ do it selectively.......
...but Microsoft is trying to fool us twice... yeah, shame on us.
Choice quote below, the parallel with this http "bug" is impressive::
When I originally wrote about this issue [bing Chinese search censorship] back in June, Microsoft protested. “From what you described, that’s not the way Bing is supposed to work,” wrote Kevin Kutz, a company spokesman. He said that Chinese speakers at Microsoft could not replicate my results and did not detect this kind of skewed result. I sent screen shots, and then Microsoft acknowledged the issue but said that it was simply a temporary mistake. “It’s a bug,” Kutz told me. Later, he added: “What’s important is it’s getting fixed.” Soon, he said, Bing searches would be the same for Tiananmen and other sensitive subjects, whatever the language.
(Thanks to pushing-robot for originally posting the link on /. here.
the likelihood that they did drop this intentionally and are now lying, that makes them so frustrating as a company. Seriously. the story was in /. and so many places and yet it was not stopped INSTANTLY. That alone says that it was intentional.
It's understandable that this was a mistake, I suspected that from the beginning, but this doesn't change the fact that Microsoft has put FAR more lives at risk than Wikileaks ever did, so I expect some US military representative to show up on a major news channel any minute now and say Microsoft has blood on their hands. Any minute now.
Just a matter of time.
Still waiting...???
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
No one ever admits to bending over and taking it up the arse, especially for a country where their regime forces you to silence what they want you to. I guess with all the other MS BS stories running around here, they are trying to bring up their market shares with non sense, just my 2 cents....must be nearing quarter time, and want to up the stats...
Does anyone here really think that the people who are using hotmail actually know anything about security or if https is on or off? The same goes for the huge majority of people using any webmail (or any computer in general).
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor
M$ fail (again)...
Recipes for USA bankrupt - http://tinypaste.com/0d66f dd = dollar deluge (printed in the infinity)