W7 Service Pack 1 Beta is out

I simply read "A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers"
Regardless, one old and fixed problem with Windows hardly means anything in an OS of today anyway. I'm sure if I searched around I could find some other careless, fixed mistakes with Linux

The "careless mistake" was them making it so easy to discover, not them putting it in there in the first place. How do you "carelessly" insert a back door into an operating system?

That was written in 1999 ([edit]and looks like updated 2002?[/edit]).  Although I don't have proof otherwise, I'm willing to bet that the article irrelevant to today.

It's relevant because it reveals Microsoft's attitude towards such features. It does not matter if similar features exist right now or not, what matters is that Microsoft is willing and able to insert them as they please.

So anyway...

How does a variable named "NSAKEY" mean it's a secret back door for the NSA?

Because Microsoft already had a security key. Having a secondary key does of course not mean conclusively that it's for use by the NSA, but Microsoft having two keys would be entirely redundant.

Also, here are some more recent intentional malfeatures in the Windows operating system and associated applicationware:

Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) in Windows 7:

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/16/2259257&from=rss

Another form of DRM in Windows Media Center:

http://gizmodo.com/391642/microsoft-will-totally-bork-your-media-center-dvr-if-nbc-or-anyone-asks-it-to

Another intentionally inserted backdoor:

http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-022.htm

And, straight from the horse's mouth, information they collect about your computer:

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx?displaylang=en&sGuid=bbeba638-19e5-48e8-9d25-71ca65b7df7f&js=false#ID0EMEAC

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx?displaylang=en&sGuid=bbeba638-19e5-48e8-9d25-71ca65b7df7f&js=false#ID0EMEAC

Nice an honest 

Quote from: Parsifal on July 20, 2010, 01:22:40 AM

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx?displaylang=en&sGuid=bbeba638-19e5-48e8-9d25-71ca65b7df7f&js=false#ID0EMEAC

Nice an honest  

Being honest doesn't justify a crime, or murderers could get off the hook by pleading guilty. Are you going to comment on any of the other three (significantly more intrusive) anti-features I pointed out?

Quote from: frostee on July 20, 2010, 01:50:23 AM

Quote from: Parsifal on July 20, 2010, 01:22:40 AM

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx?displaylang=en&sGuid=bbeba638-19e5-48e8-9d25-71ca65b7df7f&js=false#ID0EMEAC

Nice an honest  

Being honest doesn't justify a crime, or murderers could get off the hook by pleading guilty. Are you going to comment on any of the other three (significantly more intrusive) anti-features I pointed out?

I do not feel it would be wise to believe "Steve and Leo" on something they described as a "feeling"

The others are simply a protection of intellectual property, and for me, that is perfectly justified.

I do not feel it would be wise to believe "Steve and Leo" on something they described as a "feeling"

If you actually read the interview, they explain quite clearly their rationale for suspicion. If that's not enough for you, they are reputable enough to have a Wikipedia article each, with nine and twenty-two references as well as three and nine external links, respectively.

The others are simply a protection of intellectual property, and for me, that is perfectly justified.

There is no such thing as "intellectual property". Protecting it is about as meaningful as protecting the African unicorn.

Windows doesn't get any information from my computer that I don't mind them having. Any information they do take is given willingly, not just taken without the users knowledge.

Windows doesn't get any information from my computer that I don't mind them having. Any information they do take is given willingly, not just taken without the users knowledge.

My operating system doesn't send any information to anyone that I don't request it to, and I actually have reason to believe that this is true (unlike Windows users), because the full source code to every program I use (except my BIOS) is available for anyone to read. Your statement is pure speculation because nobody except those trusted by Microsoft has read the Windows source code and knows what it does.

Quote from: SupahLovah on July 20, 2010, 08:31:13 AM

Windows doesn't get any information from my computer that I don't mind them having. Any information they do take is given willingly, not just taken without the users knowledge.

My operating system doesn't send any information to anyone that I don't request it to, and I actually have reason to believe that this is true (unlike Windows users), because the full source code to every program I use (except my BIOS) is available for anyone to read.

My operating system doesn't send any information to anyone that I don't request it to, and I actually have reason to believe that this is true, because I'm a competent user with a firewall.

My operating system doesn't send any information to anyone that I don't request it to, and I actually have reason to believe that this is true, because I'm a competent user with a firewall.

Please review the part of this link regarding firewalls.

You don't seem to realise that I and just about everyone couldn't give a shift what Microsoft know about me. Why worry? What's the worst that could happen? They block anything illegal I am doing, big deal. That's the law

Yeah, a hardware firewall wont stop all of that from happening. You need a decent host based firewall, I recommend installing a 3rd party firewall and disabling the windows firewall. 

You don't seem to realise that I and just about everyone couldn't give a shift what Microsoft know about me. Why worry? What's the worst that could happen? They block anything illegal I am doing, big deal. That's the law

I agree. I mean, people never enter any personal details into their computer, right? If they did, doing business with Microsoft would a bit like hauling out your credit card number, banking details, phone number, email address, driver licence number, personal finances and records of every website you've visited, email and IM you've ever sent, both business and personal, to be able to buy a burger from McDonald's. Fortunately for Windows users, none of them ever put information like that on their computers, so they don't need to worry about it being snooped.

Sarcasm aside, Microsoft is not the police. It's not their position to enforce the law, nor do you have any reason to trust them to. What's more, the law for Microsoft is not the same as the law for you, being in different countries. What you're saying is comparable to "why worry about this guy who follows me around everywhere with a knife? What's the worst that could happen? He'll just stop me doing anything illegal."

Yeah, a hardware firewall wont stop all of that from happening. You need a decent host based firewall, I recommend installing a 3rd party firewall and disabling the windows firewall.  

Or you could run an operating system that's not built like Swiss Cheese instead of trying to patch up all the holes.