Microsoft gets knuckles rapped over security

[image_library_tag 10687/Picture-of-rock-vole-courtesy-of-Natural-Resources-Canada-site---http---www-glfc-cfs-nrcan-gc-ca-landscape-picgallery_e-html.jpg' hspace='3' align='left' alt='Picture of rock vole courtesy of Natural Resources Canada site - http://www.glfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/landscape, ,default] SOFTWARE FIRM Microsoft has received a sharp rap on the knuckles from the Advertising Standards Authority in South Africa after an ad it ran was ruled to be misleading.

IT Web reports that the ASA held that the advert, which said that Microsoft software meant your data was "never safer", even if you "kept it in a safe" was misleading and unsubstantiated, after a freelance journalist complained that the advert was untrue.

The ad suggested that using Microsoft software meant that hackers would become as extinct as a dodo, a mammoth, and a sabre toothed tiger.

The wire said that the ASA asked the Vole to produce credible information on the degree of security its software provided. Microsoft did that, and also suggested the ad was intended as a witty comment.

After viewing the submissions, the ASA ruled that because it could not provide independent validity of Microsoft's claims, the Vole should pull the ad.

As you can read, here. µ