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Microsoft Training May Have Helped Tunisian Regime To Spy On Citizens
An anonymous reader writes "A document released in the recent Cablegate leak reveals that Microsoft provided training to the Tunisian Ministries of Justice and the Interior in exchange for exemption from the country's open software policy. These Ministries would soon put the training to use by phishing for the social networking credentials of bloggers, reporters, political activists and protesters. Microsoft's assistance resulted in the sale of 12,000 software licenses to the Tunisian government."
The cable itself details the effort Microsoft put into negotiating a deal. Their clear intent was simply expanding into a new market, but the author of the cable was skeptical of the Tunisian government's adherence to its stated goals. Quoting: "In theory, increasing GOT law enforcement capability through IT training is positive, but given heavy-handed GOT interference in the internet, Post questions whether this will expand GOT capacity to monitor its own citizens."
Microsoft was helping to oppress innocent people by a totalitarian regime to get a chance to sabotage the Free Software movement? Wow. Just wow. This is low. Even for Microsoft. Is there anything that the richest man in the world won't do to get even richer? With all of that money he should be dating supermodels in Paris for the rest of his life but no, he prefers to help putting heroic individuals in jail for having guts to say what they think so that he could sell more of his precious licenses! How do such bastards sleep at night is completely beyond me. I won't repeat what I have already said about corporations that help to maintain dictatorships all over the world. I will only add that sabotaging the Free Software movement adds insult to the injury. We should all be outraged and never buy anything from Microsoft ever again. I call for a boycott of Microsoft until they explain themselves and repair the harm.
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
and apples nazi app store censorship + tracking is just as bad.
Can anyone knowledgable comment? There are quite a few articles around saying that the key thing that MS did was to put in a certificate for the Tunisian Government in Windows / Internet explorer which let them intercept any domain they wanted to; See this posting in Scribd. If that's true it's a much more serious betrayal of their users by Microsoft.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
GE power turbine used to energize torture cables
Caterpillar tractor harvested crops to feed dictator
...for writing books that allowed totalitarian regimes to write software to oppress their native peoples.
This is a very common, age-old practice. Exchange of info, tools and technologies among all sorts of governments, call them democracies or dictatorships as you wish, happens every day.
Deals such as Microsoft's with the Tunisian government or the recently exposed Diginotar's with the Iranian government (likely at the command of the Dutch government) are just two small examples.
ANY communications technology in general, and our current internet structure in particular, is by definition and by design unsecure and totally controllable by anyone who has the means, the resources, and the motivation to do so. Tie that with political and financial interests of all sorts of corporate and government entities and you see why these seemingly unfathomable cooperations take place.
Courtesy of mister_playboy
Knuth didn't put a false certificate authority for totalitarian regimes in the code examples.
Plan A: Build better products which compete on merit alone. Failed - look at the market share of anything outside Windows & Office - e.g 1% for their new phone OS or IE's decline.
Plan B: Use litigation to extort or smother the competition, e.g. 5$ for every Android handset from HTC. Failed - Motorolas patents will nullify them now, and Ballmer is in serious shit for letting Motorola go to Google.
Plan C: Get corrupt government officials to buy their products by helping them do evil. Good luck with that, now it's no longer a secret.
Because it gets known now? You don't think MS is the only company that doesn't give half a shit about who they sell to, do you? If there's not an outright embargo (that has to be circumvented somehow), anyone can buy anything if the price is right. Hell, IBM sold computers to the Nazis, knowing quite well just what they will be used for.
You think any corporation would have acted different in any way? Corporations are the pinnacle of capitalist evolution: Intelligence without conscience.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Seems these troubles occur again and again.
This time, 'sted the British and their Telegraph, Its Microsoft and the Internet, which they being Microsoft never did figure out I'm affraid to their detrement.
+++++
Let's face it. If there was a country such as Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, or maybe even Iran, is there a computer security company who would have the guts to say "no" when a pile of cash was plonked on the table? Oh, you want to spy on your own citizens that might be breaking local laws (which happen to prevent free speech and any expressions of disagreement with the government)? No problem. For a fee we'll train your personnel to configure the software however you want. This is what happened at the intelligence service in Libya, it's unsurprising in Tunisia.
Are there laws in the countries where they are incorporated that would prevent them from doing this? With the exception of Iran and Syria, which are under a regime of sanctions that may or may not bar this kind of commerce ("state sponsors of terrorism"), I doubt it. This is all just business-as-usual. The real question is whether it should be.
Wouldn't that mean open source software was being used to oppress? Or would somehow the spirit of freedom inside of the software refuse to run, knowing what it was being used for?
I know Microsoft is evil and all, but really, it sounds like they had plausible deniability: "..Tunisian government's adherence to its stated goals."
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
So, the USA torture practices come to light, the USA illegal wars, the USA illegal everything... and those same guys see MS doing something that might be stupid from a human perspective, but no where near the level of the USA as a country in itself... is pointing the finger???? Man, you guys here still don't get the cables. It's the fucking USA that is the enemy! YES! Even if you are a USA Citizen. I might as well say, especially if you are a US citizen. Those people, that lead your country, not the guy in the White House... are fucking war criminals at best! Do something about it! We (the rest of the world) can't! Prove for once America is about freedom. But think about real freedom for once. Not just freedom on your own continent. The world doesn't turn around you. Let alone the universe. We have one earth and we have to make it together. And right now we are fucking it up. And that fucking up is being orchestrated by a handful very powerful people. Having said that... Peace. We need to stick together. Because our children will hopefully be smarter.
MS is a business, It does not care about people, It would sell Windows licenses and database to the Devil if it could make a profit.
Additionally, future GOT tenders for IT equipment will specify that the equipment must be Microsoft compatible, which is currently prohibited by the Tunisian open software policy.
This seems to be a point of contention. Can anyone explain why/how Microsoft compatibility is prohibited? Just because it can run MS software doesn't mean it will, the same hardware could very well run exclusively "open" software. The open software itself could also be compatible with MS hardware and software, providing drivers that work with hardware under the Microsoft label (mice, keyboards, webcams, etc), and be capable of reading and exporting to MS file formats (.doc, .xls, etc).
Twinstiq, game news
Pretty funny, these cables read more like informative news stories than most actual news stories.
My dad can beat up your dad.
So you mean if I sell someone an axe, knowing that they will kill someone with it, I am somehow responsible?
Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right.
that is the way the world works, you sell a product or service or die
I really enjoyed that very much. Thank you.
http://www.fhimt.com/leaks/contrat-entre-microsoft-et-le-gouvernement-tunisien/
Support de l'autorité de certification électronique reconnue au niveau de Microsoft IE
Microsoft inclura dans son cycle de mise à jour des autorités de certificats au niveau d'Internet Explorer, le support de l'autorité de certification nationale. De son coté, le Gouvernement Tunisien procédera à une demande écrite dans ce sense auprès de Microsoft pour la mise en place de cette procédure
google translation:
Support for electronic certification authority recognized at Microsoft IE
Microsoft will include in its cycle of updating the certificate authorities in Internet Explorer, support for the national certification authority. For its part, the Tunisian Government will make a written request in this sense to
Microsoft's implementation of this procedure.
English translation:
Tunisia's certificate authority allows it to release it's own SSL certificates. Microsoft agrees to include Tunisia's CA certificates in Internet Explorer updates.
Thats fine. But it also allows the dictator to spoof https sites and thus snoop on people even if they are using SSL. There is evidence that exactly this has happened in Tunisia with sites like gmail. See
http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2010/07/05/mass-gmail-phishing-in-tunisia/
I know there is a lot of bullshit assumptions in some of the articles on this issue, but there is definitely some fire at the heart of the smoke.
obama's DOJ is too busy going after journalists and 'leakers'
(Stephen Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, Shamai Leibowitz, Thomas Drake, Bradley Manning)
In fact, Bradley Manning is quite probably being charged specifically with giving out this cable, as it is probably one of the 100,000+ he is charged with under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Theft of Government Property laws.
in essence... the government we have now would allow Microsoft to break this law, but they would put the guy in jail who let you know that it happened.
and I'm not just talking about manning, im talking about the Cambridge associates who are under Grand Juries right now.
China and Russia could sell all their fannie and freddie bonds, and all their tresaury bonds, and the US would collapse overnight.
move off the dollar as a world reserve currency, and it would undergo mass inflation like argentina a few years back.
OK, so Microsoft sells a couple of more copies of Windows and Office by throwing in some free training. That is the equivalent of a car dealer throwing in car mats. Yet, somehow this is some sort of evil conspiracy from an evil company that somehow knows nothing about security, yet will train the Tunisian regime on security? Meh.
go through the cables at http://www.cablegatesearch.net/
type in something interesting like 'microsoft' or 'cisco'
find some interesting ones
submit a slashdot story on it ....?
profit!
Oh yeah? My god can beat up your god.
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
To the devil? Somehow I don't think they need to buy their own software.
http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=07TUNIS1286&q=linux
"
US companies selling quality products cannot compete on a
price basis. Microsoft gave the example of PC procurement,
in which the GOT procurement commission does not specify an
operating system in their RFPs. This results in the PCs
being shipped with the Linux,s open source operating system,
which does not support Microsoft software. The Microsoft
representative argued that this has encouraged piracy and
resulted in GOT PCs using pirated Microsoft software. She
continued that the fact that the EU Commission and the
African Development Bank accept these GOT procurement laws
only encourages the GOT to maintain government procurement on
a lowest cost basis.
"
in other words, not shipping Windows with a PC = piracy
then there is the whole Tunisian Certificate Authority being put into Internet Explorer updates thing (which should have been the real story IMHO)
http://www.fhimt.com/leaks/contrat-entre-microsoft-et-le-gouvernement-tunisien/
Afrique du Sud - Cape Town - GLF Africa, le 11 Julliet 2006,
EN LA PRESENCE ET EN QUALITE DE TEMOIN:
M. Bill GATES
Chairman & Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation
POUR LES PARTIES CONTRACTANTES
M Kate SHALLOE
Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited
POUR MICROSOFT
Director General Microsoft Tunisie
POUR LE GOUVERNEMENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE TUNISIENNE
Secretaire d'Etat aupres du Ministre des Techonlogies de la Communication chargee de l'Informatique, de l'Internet et des Logiciels libres
----
unless you believe that the fhimt.com people fabricated an 18 page contract in French and Arabic... i'd say that Mr Gates has his name right there, same contract that talks about sending Tunisian government Cert Authority with IE updates.
"Software doesn't spy on people. People use software to spy on people."
Gently reply
See EFF's https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/07/politics-surveillance-erosion-privacy-latin-america - The Politics of Surveillance: The Erosion of Privacy in Latin America. Reminds me of Microsoft Coffee (http://cryptome.org/0001/ms-cofee.htm), and makes me wonder what effects the Pentagon's sockpuppet programs are having as well: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks *New Microsoft eugenics program leaked: Controversial "Just Click [HERE] to Send Drones" has many concerned* - maybe
Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made. - Otto von Bismarck
`According to a cable sent by the US embassy in Tunis on 22 September, 2006, Microsoft was so keen to get the Tunisian government to drop its policy favouring open-source software that it agreed to set up a "program on cyber criminality" to cover training. The deal also entailed the company giving the Tunisian regime, headed by President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, the original source code for Microsoft software.' link
"Tunisia has its own certificateauthority and since 2007 the root certificate has been included in Microsoft Internet Explorer.This certificate is not included in common other browsers like Safari or Firefox. If you visit from one of those browsers you will see a certificate error" link
The standard reply is, "My dad is your dad." ;P
I don't get it this way. MS is a human persons association, which work together to make money.
Of course "MS" is shameless, because it's a virtual entity. But microsoft employes should feel ashamed and find a way to work otherwise
Business is Business.
Recipes for USA bankrupt - http://tinypaste.com/0d66f dd = dollar deluge (printed in the infinity)
what they are saying is that the government shouldn't be able to order computers without windows pre-installed, because this enables piracy, therefore you shouldn't be able to order computers without windows pre-installed.
that argument wouldn't pass any jury on the planet.
businesses are allowed to do business in Tunisia, isn't this just a piece of anti-microsoft fud? We (the USA) trained Afghani's to fight the Soviets, it worked pretty good until the tactics were used on US (USA). It's not the training that is the issue, its the application; just say what you want to say and be done with it;
You think Microsoft training is evil.
FUD.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
Are you suggesting that the Dark Lord pirates his database software?
US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
The purpose of these bulldozers is not to run over people. In fact, that is why the IDF has troops go with them when possible to make sure they don't run over anybody (but as I said, their job is made difficult due to attacks by the very people they're trying to save from getting run over). The IDF has even installed cameras to try to eliminate the blind spots so drivers can avoid running over people who throw themselves in front of the bulldozers.
But the AC made it out as running over people was in the plan. It clearly isn't.
http://techrights.org/2009/09/20/privatization-africa/
http://techrights.org/2009/11/02/gates-africa-un-education/
http://techrights.org/2009/10/22/seeds-of-doubt-in-bill-gates-investments/
They run Windows ME and MSSQL in hell, I don't think anyone around here is going to question that. Now if the devil wants to spread more evil is he going to pump money into a big evil monopolistic corporation and make Steve Ballmer richer, or is he going to pirate it, removing the trouble of managing licenses from the backs of hell's sysadmins?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel