What does the Microsoft "partnership" with Facebook mean for users?
,----[ Quote ]
| First, Microsoft had a very instructive failure with Passport, and
| the "Hailstorm" effort of which it was a part.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1002828
Some more thoughts cited in this article. Given Microsoft's intent to scan
E-mails and documents on your hard-drive (based on a patent), this isn't far
fetched at all. A country called "Microsoft". Get your Passport.
Spyware in Skype as well?
EBay One of Few Companies to Lobby CIA
,----[ Quote ]
| EBay owns the Internet phone company Skype.
|
| In a 2006 disclosure form, the company said it lobbied the CIA and other
| agencies on "law enforcement access to Internet communications.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102600820.html
Related:
Why proprietary code is bad for security
,----[ Quote ]
| Tho Skype is using an encrypted protocol, it’s still their own, non-disclosed
| code and property. So we don’t know what it contains.
|
| [...]
|
| It’s time to stop accepting that we are the bad guys, and to stop consuming
| things we just don’t understand (and cannot, because they are proprietary,
| closed-source systems).
|
| Say no to companies, or even governments who treat you like this. Start using
| open sourced products and protocols wherever you can. Even if you could
| still never understand the code used in these systems, there are still lots
| of people who can, and who will examine it. The magic word here is “peer
| review” - your friend or buddy or neighbour may be able to understand all
| that, and to help. No, not with Skype or Windows or any black box from Cisco.
`----
http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=394
Beware of Skype
,----[ Quote ]
| The Skype network has been a concern of government intelligence agencies
| since its inception because it provides a worldwide network of encrypted VoIP
| calls to potential “terrorists”. So how coincidental is it that 10 days after
| Bush signs into law a Bill giving the government authority to track foreign
| calls that go through U.S. networks that Skype, for the first time in its
| existence, undergoes a massive worldwide outage?
|
| [...]
|
| But there are FOSS alternatives to Skype people really should start
| considering now. One is the OpenWengo Project. Businesses, and even
| individuals, should also consider setting up their own Asterisk servers with
| encryption.
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/node/2479
Skype staff play good cop bad cop with Linux users
,----[ Quote ]
| Thank goodness for another staff member, Ryan Hunt, who injected a
| little decorum into the thread, and more than a little honesty, by
| admitting “With 1.4 we're taking it back to basics so we can do it
| right - because that's what you deserve” and stating that “One of
| the features at the heart of 1.4 is the greatly improved audio
| quality and stability.
`----
http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1501.html
Patch Tuesday update triggered Skype outage
,----[ Quote ]
| Skype has blamed last week's prolonged outage on the effects of Microsoft's
| Patch Tuesday.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/skype_outage_post-mortem/
Don’t use Skype in your business says Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Pall also sought to reassure people about Microsoft's unified communications
| partnership with Nortel Networks, announced with fanfare last year, in which
| the two companies are doing joint development.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/networking/voip/news/index.cfm?newsid=4769
Skype for Linux 1.3x Official Release
,----[ Quote ]
| We have finally put up the latest and the greatest and public and 1.3.
`----
http://www.gadgetizer.com/2006/10/05/skype-for-linux-13x-official-release/
FBI ducks questions about its remotely installed spyware
,----[ Quote ]
| There are plenty of unanswered questions about the FBI spyware that, as we
| reported earlier this week, can be delivered over the Internet and implanted
| in a suspect's computer remotely.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9747666-7.html
United States Government Online Watchdogs? Part of the war on terror?
,----[ Quote
| Is there anyone in the abandonia community with a US based connection who is
| experiencing this watchdog behavior? Are any foreign Vista users experiencing
| similar attacks from their own countries ministries and governing agencies?"
`----
http://www.whitedust.net/news/3984/United_States_Government_Online_Watchdogs?_Part_of_the_war_on_terror?.../
Back doors in Windows XP...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlNTEQ0RzM
Mother of all spyware...
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-about-the-WGA-20-Windows-Vista-Features-and-Services-Harvest-User-Data-for-Microsoft-58752.shtml
Police eats your CPU cycles and disk space...
,----[ Quote ]
| Vista—Microsoft’s latest operating system—may prove to be most
| appropriately named, especially for those seeking evidence of how a
| computer was used.
`----
http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/jy13tkjasn.html
Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?
,----[ Quote ]
| "The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent
| application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted
| advertising as 'part of the OS.'
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/14/043200
Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems
,----[ Quote ]
| The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to
| sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files,
| user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status
| messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could
| we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status
| messages?
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
German government admits it is already conducting online searches
,----[ Quote ]
| Piltz called on the German government to block funding for the
| programming of software used in online searches; she also said it
| was urgent that the government "discontinue these searches until
| the German Supreme Court has reached a ruling on the matter."
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/88895/from/rss09
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