Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

Originally posted by xavi1000
The name "Windows" suddenly feels quite sinister .
And Microsoft Security Essentials.

Bill left the Gates wide open for the NSA.

You don't have to leave a Window(s) open to look through it...

Originally posted by xavi1000
The name "Windows" suddenly feels quite sinister .
And Microsoft Security Essentials.

Bill left the Gates wide open for the NSA.

Star for the word-play. Funny, I've had the "windows" thought before as well. Great minds, and all...

• Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism
• Outlook.com encryption unlocked even before official launch
• Skype worked to enable Prism collection of video calls
• Company says it is legally compelled to comply
Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

LINK to the entire story


What really has me disgusted to no end is the manner in which a great number of the membership here at ATS makes the ridiculous claim that Edward Snowden has revealed nothing new. That everything that has been exposed by Ed Snowden - whistleblower extraordinaire - is phony. YEA RIGHT "Oh yea we already knew all that.........move on folks - nothing to see here." These absurd claims are still being made even after what we see happening (above). Get with it ATS'ers or get off the train.

Originally posted by AmerigoVespucci
What really has me disgusted to no end is the manner in which a great number of the membership here at ATS makes the ridiculous claim that Edward Snowden has revealed nothing new. That everything that has been exposed by Ed Snowden - whistleblower extraordinaire - is phony. YEA RIGHT "Oh yea we already knew all that.........move on folks - nothing to see here." These absurd claims are still being made even after what we see happening (above). Get with it ATS'ers or get off the train.

Yes this is new stuff.

I recall a thread here previously about the idea that Microsoft might have back doors for three latter agencies and the idea was pretty much dismissed by most people replying to the thread, citing international use of the software etc. I don't think people knew it went this far, though some suspected but had no evidence.

But you can't be too hard on Microsoft I guess, if the impression I'm getting is right that they had no choice but to comply, or else....well I'm not exactly sure what the "or else" was...but they were apparently compelled to comply somehow.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
Partial quote:
But you can't be too hard on Microsoft I guess, if the impression I'm getting is right that they had no choice but to comply, or else....well I'm not exactly sure what the "or else" was...but they were apparently compelled to comply somehow.

Could it be that Microsoft, in allowing the state to govern it operations in secret; contrary to traditional standards of democracy, has entered into the classic form of Fascism so aptly pronounced by a previous, and not so far distant example of dictatorial government? And this surely is a dictatorship that we Americans now find ourselves victims of, but whether its a traditional form of Fascism or not remains to be seen. Perhaps its a form of insidiously perverse technocratic dictatorship hitherto unknown to the western world; something far more sinister and inimical to a democratic way of life.

By exposing the 'soft,' mushy, cowardly underbelly of the Microsoft corporate structure this is what Edward Snowden has uncovered for us, and brought out into the light of truthfulness. We were FORCED into it though. What a pity that we were so weak that we couldn't have discovered it for ourselves.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. The truth is that men are tired of liberty.................. Benito Mussolini"

Originally posted by xavi1000
The name "Windows" suddenly feels quite sinister .
And Microsoft Security Essentials.

Bill left the Gates wide open for the NSA.

Left the Gates open? Cute.

However I added emphasis to your OP quote,

• Company says it is legally compelled to comply
Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

(emphasis mine)

Feels like we should all be lighting a cigarette before rolling over.

So what you're saying is,that these guys:

A.) Have access to all of the best porn in the world (based on views by, well, everyone.)

B.) Have access to the worst porn in the world (99.9% of it. And they aren't legally allowed to go to the fed with the server/owner data?Wtf is that bull#?)

C.) Are in a position to judge the world record for "most porn viewed" in a neutral, accurate, and precise faction? (my main point.)

Being a boots on ground type, not some computer guy, the technical blarg is beyond my grogging. That being said, the information on the world record for "most porn viewed," is something any self respecting bachelor should aspire for.

reply to post by xavi1000


Obviously if the NSA and FBI are getting access to pre-encrypted web chats, email and other electronic communication, they are doing more than just collecting meta data. It seems very likely that these government organizations (and others) are viewing/listening to content as well, or at least recording it.

digging back to my nerd-roots but wasn't there a nsa.dll or nsa32.dll located somewhere in the earlier (3.11 or 95) versions of windows that nobody could map to any functional piece of the OS?

Don't the new xbox one use skype software for kinect?
Sure they will gather lots of angry people on that..

Originally posted by TXRabbit
digging back to my nerd-roots but wasn't there a nsa.dll or nsa32.dll located somewhere in the earlier (3.11 or 95) versions of windows that nobody could map to any functional piece of the OS?

This is the original article that first exposed the treacherous activities of the Marxist Bill Gates - dated 1999
How NSA access was built into Windows
Duncan Campbell 04.09.1999
Careless mistake reveals subversion of Windows by NSA.

A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows.

my edit
[But was it really a careless mistake - or was this merely the initiation of a 'limited hangout' the ultimate results of which have been intentionally revealed by the likes of Edward Snowden and Glen Greenwald et al? Was Microsoft ever a legitimate company and Bill Gates a bona fide CEO? Same for all the other 'companies' whose Logo's were displayed at the top of the NSA Power Point presentation.] end edit

The NSA access system is built into every version of the Windows operating system now in use, except early releases of Windows 95 (and its predecessors). The discovery comes close on the heels of the revelations earlier this year that another US software giant, Lotus, had built an NSA "help information" trapdoor into its Notes system, and that security functions on other software systems had been deliberately crippled.
drucken
versenden
The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.

Computer security specialists have been aware for two years that unusual features are contained inside a standard Windows software "driver" used for security and encryption functions. The driver, called ADVAPI.DLL, enables and controls a range of security functions. If you use Windows, you will find it in the C:Windowssystem directory of your computer.
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ADVAPI.DLL works closely with Microsoft Internet Explorer, but will only run cryptographic functions that the US governments allows Microsoft to export. That information is bad enough news, from a European point of view. Now, it turns out that ADVAPI will run special programmes inserted and controlled by NSA. As yet, no-one knows what these programmes are, or what they do.

Dr Nicko van Someren reported at last year's Crypto 98 conference that he had disassembled the ADVADPI driver. He found it contained two different keys. One was used by Microsoft to control the cryptographic functions enabled in Windows, in compliance with US export regulations. But the reason for building in a second key, or who owned it, remained a mystery.

A second key and A third key?! The article goes on

.............Microsoft and Gates are sickening bastards.

Do you think this will affect the sale of Xbox ones? Considering how people are saying its the spybox, because of the "Always on" Kinect. I for one agree with said assumptions. Microsoft has been pretty shady lately, dont ya think?

reply to post by Fisherr


You are so right! What i don't understand is why Microsoft added skype to the Xbox one? Party chat seems to work just fine. While watching the Xbox One Conference, it looked really dumb how a friend can call you on skype and ruin a part of a movie you were watching. Looks really clunky and bothersome, Takes like 20% of the screen.

Who knows they might actually be spying on us. If they are we'll get the people who are all like " If yaint doin nutin wrong, ya'll got nutttin tuh wrry bout."

reply to post by AmerigoVespucci


Well it isn't new, windows was written with backdoors in it. This was known about. 10 ywars ago.
Itd sad we don't care but there it is...

I do some contract work for Microsoft. Most of it pays too little for my time, but there are a few times where it can be quite lucrative. While I cannot say a whole lot, I can say that it appears Microsoft keeps just about everything one does with their various products in storage. I have worked projects that dealt with very personal private emails - emails that include valid Social Security numbers sometimes. Now a lot of times I just deal with web search material which isn't really all that private or a surprise that they collect this data. There are other times where the data I am dealing with is very private and personal. What really irks me is that to work this position, all you need to do is take a simple test. No background searches, no interview, nothing. So they are not only collecting all of this data on their users, they are also allowing just about anyone to have access to this data.

Having worked behind the scenes for many companies, none of what is coming out right now is surprising in the very least - I can tell quite a few stories of my own! There is a lot that has yet to be said, I truly believe that most of what we think is reality is just a carefully crafted illusion. I can only hope that one day everything is revealed - and people get upset enough that they finally take action.

This is newest statement from Edward Snowden



Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.

It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.

I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.

That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.

Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement – the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president’s plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.

Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.

I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela’s President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.

This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.

If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.

Thank you.

Originally posted by Senduko
Well look at Skype the only software where close doesn't mean close lol.
Also if you look at windows 8 then look no further to a Orwellian society. Log in with your e-mail.. Helloooo.

If you lost your password from gmail... Send us an SMS and will send you a code as if lol.

And everyone is so upset, yet no one asks questions or rants about those two banners next to the forum lol!

edit on 11-7-2013 by Senduko because: (no reason given)

I had an internet account with AT&T back in the mid 1990's - they'd send your windows login name, along with the regular username and password in order to login.

Here is a backdoor for Snowden:

Venezuela offers him asylum and he accepts it.
Then Venezuela makes him a diplomatic officer in Moscow.
Snowden moves to Venezuela embassy or somewhere in Moscow and lives there forever.
No need to risk getting caught while trying to travel transcontinental.

Only bummer would be if Moscow calls him Not Welcome. Then Snowden moves to Venezuela embassy and becomes like Assange under house arrest.

Why would Moscow be such wussy? Does Putin not know the reality of world politics that even friends spy on friends. Moscow and Washington should immediately offer asylum to any traitor from each other's country. Not helping the traitors would discourage more traitors changing the camp in the future. What game is Putin playing right now? makes no sense!

Only way to defeat Skype is to build similar alternative with these points:

0: Open source
1: DHT based network (maybe Maidsafe dht library)
2: Easy to use like Skype UI is
3: written in C or C++ with QT GUI
4: Full encryption
5: Almost impossible to block by firewalls
6: Cross platform
7: Opus for audio and VP9 for video calls
8: No other bloat included like Facebook, maybe extendable by plugins who needs extra.


Please be kind and spread word to programmers.

Imagine that - Paying microsoft and government to watch your every move.
Didn't microsoft at one point promise the best experience? They delivered!