The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in queues
|
|
|
Whistleblower website is back online
A WHISTLEBLOWER website that had been shut down by Microsoft is back online after the Vole withdrew its copyright complaint.
Cryptome was shut down for 24 hours after Microsoft's attempt to suppress a document about how to subpoena online user data backfired.
Cryptome's proprietor John Young published the 22-page document earlier this week. It advises law enforcement on how to file subpoenas, outlines what data Microsoft keeps on users of its online services such as Xbox Live and Hotmail, and explains how to parse the resulting user data.
Microsoft filed a demand under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, but instead of that making the document go away Internet users purposely circulated it to embarrass the company.
The Vole did not say it was sorry but defended its use of copyright law to keep its law enforcement manual secret.
In a press release Microsoft said that there was nothing wrong with what is contained in its law enforcement manual. "Like all service providers, Microsoft must respond to lawful requests from law enforcement agencies to provide information related to criminal investigations. We take our responsibility to protect our customers privacy very seriously, so have specific guidelines that we use when responding to law enforcement requests," it said.
Microsoft denied trying to shut the Cryptome website down, saying that its demand was simply that its copyrighted content be removed. However it asked to have the site restored and is no longer seeking the document's removal.
Cryptome's hosting provider, Network Solutions, chose to shutter the entire site and lock down the domain name, even before the Thursday deadline, mostly so that it would not be included in any Volish law suit.
Wired has pointed out that while Cox Communications publishes its rules regarding coppers snooping, the Vole and Yahoo don't. Microsoft could have avoided all these problems and the attendant bad publicity by being a little more open about its resources and policies for law enforcement in the first place. µ
Share this:
Share
Yeah, the site looks like it's back up.
http://www.websitedown.net/cryptome-org
But for how long? I imagine that Cryptome gets hit with takedown notices on a daily basis.
They ain't what they used to be. Like the government listening to every phonecall, reading every email, txt-message...
Yeah. It's a criminal investigation. They're looking for thought-crime. Obviously.
What a bunch of pathetic losers.
Now that the site is back up, I hope some disgruntled Microsoft employee that is sick of having chairs hurled at her/him mails Cryptome a copy of the source code to Windows 7 (and maybe MS office, too). Then this could be similarly "purposely circulated it to embarrass the company", despite DMCA Nazism.
Wouldn't the open source boys and girls have fun picking through those millions of lines of code...I wonder what the chance that many thousands of code segments would be found to infringe on GPL'd code? If there was anything that could stop Microsoft (and its media cartel buddies) from using its "legal" bullying tactics against citizens, businesses, and whole countries, this would be it. Public domain knowledge is power.
Microsoft could do the world a a great service by levelling the playing field by paying the resulting fines to all of the open source companies (and countries using open source) that it and its media buddies are trying to push around and put out of business.
It is not the fault of the judicial system that MS tried to mis-use the DMCA to take down a legitimate website that they didn't like.
I blame Ken's parents for passing along low quality DNA :(
I didn't realise this here had become the other plaice...
And that I blame M$ on their actions here: first trying to suppress the file, then when PR turned against them, now saying it's no big deal after all, just a casual threat.
By the way, I had trouble with the captcha image not appearing previously.
When "law enforcement" leans on you, resist. Most of what they threaten is sheer bluff, relying on your ignorance and fear. All citizens have *some* duty to keep the gov't from harassing others.
THIS, though, isn't just complying with lawful demands, it's HELPING up front:
"It advises law enforcement on how to file subpoenas, outlines what data Microsoft keeps on users of its online services such as Xbox Live and Hotmail, and explains how to parse the resulting user data."
You can be SURE that M$ will resist to the utmost any attempt by anyone to get a look at *their* details, but when it comes to *your* privacy, PFFFT! M$ isn't a good corporate citizen, it's actively in cahoots with governments.
If you've ever had to deal with law enforcement when a crime has been committed using your IT resources or services, you must help them or you may find yourself in a very bad position, or even behind bars. This isn't MS's fault, it's our judicial system's fault. However, putting pressure on big companies like MS could force them to push back and maybe get laws changed.