BEST reason to switch

[Barney]

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html

Claims that almost all WINDOWS have NSA backdoors!

[Biggus]

That wacky NWO!

Whatever will they think of next?

Interestingly, my copy of XP (it came pre-installed, not my fault) still shows a file called Advapi32.dll in the System32 folder.

[ComplexNumber]

its dated 1999. then again, if they have had the intent to be immoral once, theres a good reason to believe that they obviously have the intent to do so again.
i wonder what secret backdoors exist in vista :-k

[Biggus]

Now I think about it, why can't they just use Back Orifice or Sub7, like everyone else looking to gain access over windows machines?

:twisted:

(I remember reading a later report which stated that, as of, Win2K, there were actually 3 backdoor keys, not the two mentioned in the original link)

[Barney]

NSA helps MS with WIndows Vista, too!

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/nsa_helps_micro_1.html

.., and Schneier is the guy that should know.

[FuturePilot]

Does this mean that they can spy on people running Windows or secretly collect information? Scary:o

[kevinf311]

Does this mean that they can spy on people running Windows or secretly collect information? Scary:o

It means that if a computer is being used to do something that may pose a threat to National Security the NSA can get a court order to go in to that computer and take action. Writing in their own access ability gives them the ability to enter the computer without the offending entity knowing. This ensures that any intelligence gained from entering the computer is not compromised because of actions taken by the party after their firewall software notified them of an intrusion.

Stuff like this isn't there so that NSA computers can thumb through your family photos or documents, it's there to give the agency a silent means for gathering intelligence on suspected threats.

[~LoKe]

Old news, and has been posted many times.

Personally I'm not worried, regardless of whether or not I use Windows (I don't, for the record).

In all honesty, I just don't care as long as it doesn't affect performance.

[CubicleDweller]

I'm waiting for every tin foil hat wearing, security paranoid, recluse to pop out of their holes and start more MS boycott sites about Microsoft and its evil intentions to spy on us all to further their commerical imperialist mission to eat up every other company and all users of the world. Bull... if you've got nothing to hide then relax. Of course if you are that hardcore and you find yourself using Windows there are ways around it. Again, how many people pirate software and are never touched? There's a good percentage of users who have all sorts of illegal software on their computers and you don't see police breaking down doors. The only time to worry is if you DO something malicious with that software.

[Arathorn]

The nothing to hide argument is bull. I trust my government won't do anything against the law to spy on me, but can we trust our government in 50 years time? I hope so, but can we be sure? 50 years is a lot of time for a change in government type.
That said, the NSA just helped MS to get their software waterproof. They reported leaks and gave advice, they helped Novell the same way for example.

[TheWizzard]

I trust my government won't do anything against the law to spy on me
i certainly do not trust the us government [-(

[Arathorn]

Luckily that's not my government.:twisted:

[happy-and-lost]

I know it's Win9x, but this creeped me out a little: http://microsuck.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml

I was relieved to see that those files are now "out in the open" in XP.