While the U.S. government continues to reassure Americans that it is working in their best interest, it engages in practices that make some observers wonder exactly what it plans to do with its wide range of freedoms.
According to National Security Agency Information Assurance Director Richard Shaeffer, the NSA collaborated with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) to help improve Windows 7's usability. The NSA believes that by helping Microsoft with its operating system, more users than ever will be safe and secure.
"Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the Department of Defense, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform their everyday tasks," Shaeffer told a Senate subcommittee. "All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later during the product's lifecycle."
Shaeffer went on to say that it is his hope and the hope of his agency that by helping Microsoft with Windows 7, "it will improve the adoption of [the U.S. government's] security advice."
But do we really want the government's security advice? The National Security Agency doesn't exactly have the best reputation in the tech world. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a citizens’ rights group, is embroiled in a court battle with the NSA over the EFF's claim that the government agency conducted illegal surveillance of domestic phone calls made over cellular networks.
"The U.S. government, with assistance from major telecommunications carriers including AT&T, has engaged in a massive program of illegal dragnet surveillance of domestic communications and communications records of millions of ordinary Americans since at least 2001," the EFF claims on its Webpage.
The EFF is seeking an injunction "to stop the warrantless wiretapping and hold the government officials behind the program accountable," the EFF's site claims.
Currently, the EFF also is battling AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)
in court against what it alleges are the telecom firm’s infringements of personal privacy.
For its part, the U.S. government says that it hasn't engaged in any of the activities the EFF claims that it did. Government representatives say they engage in practices that protect Americans, while staying well within legal parameters. More importantly, they contend that any online monitoring is going on overseas -- agencies don’t spy on U.S.-based citizens.
That's certainly reassuring. But if the government has infiltrated technology, we might need to wonder if it's really aiming at protecting us.
AT&T has echoed the government's sentiments regarding EFF's claims. But with a paper trail following the NSA, the Department of Defense, and other government agencies, it's understandable that some folks might choose to question the government's motives.
And determining exactly what those motives are can be difficult. The government has contended that its actions are for the protection of users. But having its grips in Windows 7 might be a bit much for some. And its Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) is quickly gaining ground as a potentially viable solution for companies that want to assess risks in their infrastructures and receive direction on how to better secure their applications and networks.
According to Shaeffer, the NSA is working with Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE), and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), among others, to "encourage the IT industry" to adopt SCAP.
Once again, the U.S. government could be doing this for good. But suspicious people believe it might have ulterior motives.
And that’s perhaps the point when it comes to government involvement in the tech industry. The government could be doing good. But it could be using its influence to do, well... not-so-good things. At this point, we really don't know for sure.
—Don Reisinger is a technology and video game columnist.
Basically the reason why most company particularly hospital equipped their office with technology is to provide a very concise and well efficient service most importantly to reduce the administrative expense but If the above mentioned is no observed even the use of technology well I guess the admin should think whether they have to continue using the computer technology. It’s the prerogative of the hospital whether to use or not. It depends as to what strategy they are going to use, just like the strategy of the Federal Reserve. Despite the effect it may have on efforts to mitigate the recession, the fact of the matter is that the Federal Reserve is going to have to increase interest ratesat some point to offset the decline of the dollar and to encourage increased foreign investment
I think government involvement is increasingly at a rapid (and startling) rate. That's not to say it's as bad as some countries around the world, but it is bad. And it's starting to scare some of us.
I think you make a great point. As a provider of software with several security issues, Microsoft is grasping at just about anything to make us believe that its OS really is secure. And all that is done in the hope that we won't want Mac OS X. It's a tough sell.
Have you heard about China's Govt making it mandatory for every PC sold there to contain some piece of monitoring Software??
So what if the US Govt is doing something similar albleit on a much more restricted/clandestine scale.
Its what Govts always do.Intrude and Invade into private lives until we Citizens get fed up and revolt against them.Its all a game of checks and balances.Nothing new or different there.
What is new is that with the increased dosage of Statism that is creeping into American society anyone who is considered to be against the Govt will be in deep-deep trouble going against the basic anti-thesis of Democracy.Free-Speech is in Peril.
I am not uninformed or ignorant of the history of Microsoft's security history.
Really... because your original posts seem to imply the exact opposite.
Have you ever been to a BlackHat or Def Con? I have been to several of both. Loads of fun.
- Yes. Re-read my post. I said for example of my first-hand knowledge of FEDS running around at Def Con. First-hand. Not hearsay.
But you might be surprised to know there are almost as many FEDs as there are HEADs in attendence.
- I know. I was there... several times as well.
The point I was making is that just becase the NSA was involved and the EFF has an axe to grind is no reason to insinuate there is a conspiracy to lurk over the shoulder of every Windows user. I still maintain that the alligations are unfounded. And you have stated nothing to support the original implication.
- I had no comment on any conspiracy and I insinuated nothing. I was simply pointing out that Black Hat has had a major role in smartening Microsoft up and making them lose sleep over the security issues and that NIST is a bureaucratic agency like most other government agencies out there; the private sector can and always will do better.
So stop putting words into my mouth. It is not appreciated. Yes, I know the NSA is full of security experts; I do not see them hiring no-techs, and neither does anyone else with an ounce of common sense for that matter. Again, irrelevant to the debate we had, though I realize relevant to the one about the article. I read the article, and I have read NIST advisories and I simply find the lack of full disclosure in some releases to be appalling at times.
Stay focused, Kurt. I just needed to point out how wrong you were with regards to Black Hat and hackers positive contributions to fixing the security industry; no matter what colour of hat they happen to proudly wear, or are labelled with.
So the next time you want to call me disrespectful. Just do it without all the obfuscation, and insinuation that I don't understand the points of my arguement.
- Telling you to try to be more respectful is about as blatent as one can get without calling you disrespectful. You clearly know what the opposite of respectful is. And you are just looking for more pointless petty arguments to keep your post count high. Quality, not quantity please.
With absolutely no respect whatsoever,
- I always knew it was just a signature and only to be taken lightly... especially with your often condescending tone. You may be older, and you may have some useful wisdom, but it does not make you any more intelligent or better than anyone else on here. Just remember that the next time you want to keep arguing pointless semantics without any of your own citations to back it up (all the while demanding others to be held to a higher standard). Before you accuse others of having "no facts" and spewing "innuendo", look at what YOU are stating. Example:
Also in the late 1990s Microsoft tried to enlist the assistance of some highly reguarded Hackers to help their code writers understand where and how the holes were located.
- Citation required, otherwise I am writing this off as baseless hearsay, and so should everyone else reading this... it might make your posts more helpful to back them up.
Are we done or do you want to continue?
- Nathan Wosnack
p.s.
I agree about the EFF, Kurt. The EFF does always has an axe to grind. Granted I have to agree with most of the beefs they have with corporations and governments, I certainly cannot agree with all of them. For the EFF to act as if they are the saviours of the Internet is really irresponsible and arrogant. Just ask Kevin Mitnick, a listed writer on InternetEvolution, and former hacker turned security professional how much EFF helped him out. Hint: he considered them useless in his view, according to his own accounts in the film Freedom Downtime by 2600.
The motives of the government is not really the issue. Our freedoms and success in government have been in keeping appropriate checks and balances.
Yes, the government can do one thing with the proper motivation, but then the fact that they know what they can do with the technology provides too great a temptation to misuse, or step over the line, access to personal and/or private information.
The safest avenue is to not go down that road. I am afraid we have moved down that road in response to 911 - we need to be careful where we go next.
I am not uninformed or ignorant of the history of Microsoft's security history. Have you ever been to a BlackHat or Def Con? I have been to several of both. Loads of fun. But you might be surprised to know there are almost as many FEDs as there are HEADs in attendence. Also in the late 1990s Microsoft tried to enlist the assistance of some highly reguarded Hackers to help their code writers understand where and how the holes were located.
The point I was making is that just becase the NSA was involved and the EFF has an axe to grind is no reason to insinuate there is a conspiracy to lurk over the shoulder of every Windows user. I still maintain that the alligations are unfounded. And you have stated nothing to support the original implication. Yes MS has security problems. But yes the NSA is filled with security experts. Experts with a varifiable background of trustworthiness.
So the next time you want to call me disrespectful. Just do it without all the obfuscation, and insinuation that I don't understand the points of my arguement.
The fear of the HELP offered by the government comes mostly from the ignorance of the persons who don't know how a computer really works. There is no shortage of paranoia surrounding computer O/S software. Even the Government Hardened LINUX kernel is suspect. And that is open code. I trust that we can assume there is nothing to worry about. At least until Skynet becomes self-aware.
I'll play along. First the link in your reply is to an inuendo filled rumour page that asserts that Windows has been open to government intrusion since windows 95. That amounts to the better part of 15 years. If the accusations are that old, please explain how many times the NSA has used this supposed backdoor. It also states that a similar backdoor exists in Lotus notes. Is it a coinidence that one of the EFF founders was also a founder of LotusCorp (Mitchell David Kapor).
Your entire link is and example of hear-say. I know a guy, who knew a guy, that went to a conference in a far-away country, and he heard someone else say that a Microsoft employee was surprised to hear that another guy said there was a file called NSACDI inside a DLL file.
Did you really think that this proves a government conspiracy? Just because your watch-dog is barking doesn't mean there is a badguy at the gate. It might be just the neighbor's cat going past.
AT&T is an example of a private-public partnership resulting in warrantless wiretapping on innocent American citizens. The author is attempting to make the point that it could happen with Microsoft, as it already has in the past (http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/nsa_backdoor_windows.htm)
The EFF is a great watchdog group and we need more groups like them.
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