[Note from Matthew Gaylor: Nearly every security expert I know won't
use Windows on their personal machines (I don't). Everyone is aware
of the security issues that arise with Microsoft and it is common
knowledge that many intelligence workers have cover jobs with various
corporations. But I don't place complete confidence in the French
either. Kenn Cukier formally of Communications Week International
and now the International Editor at Red Herring had this interesting
paper on France's spy network.
http://www.cfp99.org/program/papers/cukier.htm
"France reportedly has developed its own "Frenchelon" -- a worldwide
network of spy satellites and listening stations that systematically
eavesdrop on communications in the United States and elsewhere.
Monitoring stations are said to exist in French Guiana, in the city
of Domme in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, in New
Caledonia, and in the United Arab Emirates. The information gleaned
is reportedly used for both political and commercial ends.
Additionally, some speculate that the French project may mark the
first step in a pan-European effort to counterbalance the U.S.'s
global spying capabilities. Germany is said to partially fund
France's initiative in return for access to the information it
collects."]
Sent with permission of John Young
From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Subject: MS Funded/Founded by NSA?
A French intelligence report alleges that Microsoft was
set up with NSA funding and that NSA imposed MS-DOS
on IBM, and also alleges that NSA agents are now working
at Microsoft:
http://cryptome.org/nsa-ms-spy.htm
The full confidential report has not been published and these
allegations are made by an intelligence newsletter which
claims to have seen it. The Age, an Australian newspaper,
has reported on the topic today -- that account leads the file
above.
The NSA MS key revelation appears in the reports, and may
have prompted the intelligence investigation and speculation,
along with the April 1999 report for Europarl, due to be considered
by EuroParl in a week, which also warns of Microsoft's and Intel's
possible cooperation with US intelligence to use Winte as a spying
tool.
Still, we had not before seen an allegation that NSA was in on
the gitgo with Microsoft and that DOS had been forced upon
IBM. Is that old news or new, or merely a French counterattack
on Echelon-like espionage?
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