Comments on: Microsoft’s Government Backdoor… Isn’t

By: shane

shane — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:33:21 +0000

You should not call someone that has spent time going to college an idiot just because you feel your smarter. Your statement shows who is the reall idiot.

By: William Gunn

William Gunn — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:38:11 +0000

http://web.archive.org/web/20060518123848/http://linuxadvocate.org/articles.php?p=1
Well, taking a look at that website, it shows the basic breakdown of the Microsoft EULA, and in it, by using windows or any of its programs you allow them to send anyone else your information as long as its not private, an ip address is not private so… they are allowed to without warrent

By: Rebenga

Rebenga — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:02:53 +0000

Doesn’t matter if one exists or not – Windows cannot be trusted with anything since there is no way of verifying. Hell, even speculating that a backdoor exists is just as much blowing smoke out of ones ass as saying that it is. Microsoft has a proven track record of not bothering much with customers opinions – why would now be any different?

In short: they won’t share there source-code and until they do I’d rather be safe than sorry assuming that they are stealing my data rather than living in some naive fantasy about corporations that don’t screw their customers over for profit or power.

By: peasleer

peasleer — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:00:32 +0000

@Izkata: That isn’t a backdoor either. Do I need to write another post to explain how the common opinion about that is terribly flawed as well?

By: Izkata

Izkata — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:51:08 +0000

Wrong backdoor.

You forgetting about the USB Key?

By: peasleer

peasleer — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:18:48 +0000

@m.bartelt:
A little digging revealed a Microsoft program manager’s explanation. It isn’t a backdoor, and it doesn’t update if it is turned off – it only updates the Windows update components if the service is set to anything but off. Read for yourself:
http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/2007/09/13/how-windows-update-keeps-itself-up-to-date.aspx

Yes, it could have been a little more transparent, but it can’t update *any* Windows computer, and it doesn’t give them remote access to your machine. It is updating through the update component to keep Windows update current. And easy on the ‘introduce malicious code through update’ comment, that is true for any and every operating system with the ability to update! There is a certain level of trust you are accepting regardless of whose software you are using, people just seem to forget about everyone but Microsoft.

By: m.bartelt

m.bartelt — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:11:54 +0000

Umm… Microsoft can update any Windows platform computer without permission, even if you have automatic updates turned off.

There is no “government back door”, but Microsoft could easily introduce malicious code to your system if they wanted.

It’s been confirmed by dozens of sources. Read for yourself.

http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+update+without+permission

By: rakudave

rakudave — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:51:16 +0000

Sadly, I have to agree with you. I would have liked such a story, but there are simply no legitimate facts in the claim in question. This is the very reason I didn’t repost the story.
These rumors have been around for years, and they’ll probably never stop.

By: peasleer

peasleer — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:51:57 +0000

@bobby:

Given a set of facts, I have presented a series of results. My only speculation is that I can’t be sure whether a backdoor exists, which I disclosed in the post. Everyone should feel comfortable with the conclusions I have arrived at being neither the result of sensationalist writing or speculative in nature when the background information is taken into account.

By: bobby

bobby — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:35:03 +0000

I agree that everything is speculation, but that exact factor undermines various claims made by the other author AND many of your claims as well.