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Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Hackers may leak Microsoft spying docs, grant Bill Gates's wish for 'intense debates'
Hackers may leak Microsoft spying docs, grant Bill Gates's wish for 'intense debates'
If Bill Gates wishes for 'more intense
debates' about tracking and trust, then SEA hackers may give it to him
by leaking stolen Microsoft and FBI 'email spying' documents.
It seemed surprising that no one asked Bill Gates about NSA surveillance when he last did a Reddit Ask Me Anything session last month; but Rolling Stone didn't pass up the opportunity when interviewing Bill Gates.
When Rolling Stone asked Gates if he considered Edward Snowden to be a hero or a traitor, Gates said:
Data integration is often underestimated and poorly implemented, taking time and resources. Yet it Learn More
I think he broke the law, so I certainly wouldn't
characterize him as a hero. If he wanted to raise the issues and stay in
the country and engage in civil disobedience or something of that kind,
or if he had been careful in terms of what he had released, then it
would fit more of the model of "OK, I'm really trying to improve
things." You won't find much admiration from me.
Persistent, Rolling Stone asked Gates if "it's better now that we know what we know about government surveillance?"
Gates:
"The government has such ability to do these things. There has to be a
debate. But the specific techniques they use become unavailable if
they're discussed in detail. So the debate needs to be about the general
notion of under what circumstances should they be allowed to do
things."
You likely noticed that Gates hasn't mentioned
privacy, and it seems Rolling Stone did too. After pointing out that we
still don't really know what's going on in regards to government
surveillance, the magazine added that "we want safety, but we also want
privacy." That's not quite a question, but Gates still didn't touch upon
privacy, digital or otherwise. Instead, Gates suggested that if we
"knew that nothing was going on," then that should worry us. He said it would worry him.
Technology arms the bad guys with orders of magnitude more [power]. Not just bad guys. Crazy
guys. Fertilizer wasn't too good for the federal building in Oklahoma
City, but there's stuff out there now that makes fertilizer look like a
joke.
Eventually, Gates started talking about the cloud. During the Reddit IAmA, Gates said,
"I am excited about how the cloud and new devices can help us
communicate and collaborate in new ways. The OS won't just be on one
device and the information won't just be files - it will be your history
including being able to review memories of things like kids growing
up."
Unlike Apple co-founder Steve Wonziak, who doesn't trust the cloud to be safe from NSA spying, Gates loves the cloud. He also seems to be a big fan of surveillance.
Rolling Stone pointed out
that people are concerned about their privacy, or the lack thereof,
when it comes to storing their info in the cloud. Gates asked if
security cameras should be setup "everywhere in outdoor streets," as he
thinks cameras are a "very good thing" that can "catch terrorists."
Gates added that people generally don't believe those cameras are used
to invade privacy, and we "have to trust what the info is going to be
used for." I suppose Gates wants us to trust that Microsoft won't misuse
or otherwise abuse its surveillance powers of the cloud.
When Rolling Stone asked if people's "concerns are overblown," Gates said:
There's
always been a lot of information about your activities. Every phone
number you dial, every credit-card charge you make. It's long since
passed that a typical person doesn't leave footprints. But we need
explicit rules. If you were in a divorce lawsuit 20 years ago, is that a
public document on the Web that a nosy neighbor should be able to pull
up with a Bing or Google search? When I apply for a job, should my
speeding tickets be available? Well, I'm a bus driver, how about in that
case? And society does have an overriding interest in some activities,
like, "Am I gathering nuclear-weapons plans, and am I going to kill
millions of people?" If we think there's an increasing chance of that,
who do you trust? I actually wish we were having more intense debates
about these things.
If it's an intense debate about
surveillance and the cloud that Gates would like, then the Syrian
Electronic Army may be about to grant that wish. SEA has twicehacked
Microsoft in 2014, giving Microsoft a red face and a pair of black
eyes. SEA hackers warned that Microsoft is "spying on people" and not to
"use Microsoft emails (Hotmail, Outlook), They are monitoring your
accounts and selling the data to the governments." The pro-Assad hackers
vowed to deliver the digital dirt by publishing stolen documents that "prove" Microsoft spies on email for governments.
Shortly thereafter, Microsoft admitted that targeted phishing attacks allowed SEA to steal law enforcement documents.
If
Gates really wants an intense debate, that may be about to happen
(again) for Microsoft. Yesterday, the Syrian Electronic Army tweeted that it will soon leak the documents showing what Microsoft is paid for email surveillance.
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