[//]: # (to do: vet the links for CF & scrub) [0]: https://infosec.exchange/@bojkotiMalbona/104637098084869887 [1]: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/doc/ListOfServicesBlockingTor#ComputingTechnical [2]: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/21023035/61580062-10fd6300-aafd-11e9-8bf2-64faddf63760.png [3]: https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium/issues/795#issuecomment-687991721 [4]: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsofts-github-account-allegedly-hacked-500gb-stolen [5]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/hackers-stole-github-and-gitlab-oauth-tokens-from-git-analytics-firm-waydev [6]: https://msrc.microsoft.com/create-report [7]: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50232902 [8]: https://mako.cc/writing/hill-free_tools.html [9]: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/newsroom/news-releases/2019/0222_exxonmobil-to-increase-permian-profitability-through-digital-partnership-with-microsoft [10]: https://news.microsoft.com/2019/09/17/schlumberger-chevron-and-microsoft-announce-collaboration-to-accelerate-digital-transformation [11]: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago [12]: http://web.archivecrfip2lpi.onion/web/publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/republican-lawmakers-posh-hideaway-bankrolled-by-secret-corporate-cash [13]: http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_and_the_NSA [14]: http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1401518&view=late1&session=2017 [15]: http://web.archivecrfip2lpi.onion/web/20200318144031/www.theverge.com/2018/6/15/17468292/amazon-microsoft-uber-california-consumer-privacy-act [16]: https://web.archive.org/web/20200722105800/tokenpost.com/Central-Bank-of-Sweden-is-testing-digital-currency-5197 [17]: https://github.com/privacytools/privacytools.io/issues/374#issuecomment-460077544 [18]: https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-google-and-microsoft-sued-over-photos-in-facial-recognition-database [19]: http://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html [20]: http://gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html [21]: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43kv4q/microsoft-human-contractors-listened-to-xbox-owners-homes-kinect-cortana [22]: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2018/11/07/data-protection-impact-assessment-op-microsoft-office [23]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/dutch-government-report-says-microsoft-office-telemetry-collection-breaks-gdpr [24]: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-5-gdpr [25]: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-17-gdpr [26]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2019/08/01/microsoft-slammed-for-investing-in-israeli-facial-recognition-spying-on-palestinians [27]: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/03/middleeast/razan-al-najjar-gaza-nurse-killed/index.html [28]: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-protests-latest-idf-condemned-edited-video-angel-of-mercy-medic-razan-al-najjar-a8389611.html [29]: https://companies-that-work-with-ice.com [30]: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/393358-microsoft-employees-dissatisfied-by-ceo-response-plan-action-against-ice [31]: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/9/20906213/github-ice-microsoft-software-email-contract-immigration-nonprofit-donation [32]: https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-employees-up-in-arms-over-cloud-contract-with-1826927803 [33]: http://fortune.com/2020/05/18/microsoft-fedex-partnership-build [34]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/honeywell-set-to-launch-its-quantum-computer-with-quantum-volume-of-64 [35]: https://techinquiry.org/SiliconValley-Military [36]: https://ai.google/principles [37]: https://web.archive.org/web/20200529160343/www.cheatsheet.com/web/20200529160343mp_/https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/these-companies-started-firing-employees-right-after-getting-tax-cuts-from-trump.html [38]: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/02/microsoft-downloading-windows-10-automatic-update [39]: https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-windows-10-forced-updates-auto-restarts-are-the-worst [40]: https://www.howtogeek.com/442609/confirmed-windows-10-setup-now-prevents-local-account-creation [41]: http://www.linfo.org/microsoft_tax.html [42]: http://techrights.org/2017/03/15/still-using-patents-to-coerce [43]: http://techrights.org/2017/02/27/microsoft-novell-v2-via-azure [44]: https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria-evaluation.html [45]: https://ilyaigpetrov.medium.com/github-shadowbans-anti-censorship-coder-account-for-a-link-to-the-christchurch-shootings-video-c79a80b408a9 [46]: https://github.com/deCloudflare/deCloudflare [47]: http://crimeflare.eu.org/ [48]: images/github_ban.png [49]: https://www.iccl.ie/digital-data/iccl-report-on-the-scale-of-real-time-bidding-data-broadcasts-in-the-u-s-and-europe/ # Direct practical problems with using Microsoft Github 1. A survey [shows][0] that a significant number of bug reports are **withheld** when the bug tracker is inside a restrictive or politically controversial walled-garden like MS Github or gitlab.com. This ultimately hinders the quality of software in the commons. 1. Github is Tor-hostile [according to Tor project][1]. GH has started forcing Tor users through an extra email verification step that effectively discourages bug reports: ![github-tor_hostility][2] 1. Github takes a hostile posture toward burner accounts, and they [enforce it][3]. Burner accounts are important for privacy because aggregation of pseudo-anonymous identities enables adversaries to identify someone. Even notwithstanding doxxing, aggregation blocks someone from working on something like "a design for a better marijuana bong" while also working on a project like "business critical infrastructure" for his boss. The bong project might ruin the user's reputation from the standpoint of a commercial job. Burner accounts protect users so they can work on multiple projects, and Microsoft bans that protection. 1. MS failed to secure Github, which was [breached to the tune of 500gb of private projects][4]. Then security was breached again in July 2020 when OAuth tokens were [stolen][5] from both Github and Gitlab.com. Security incompetence is further showcased by an MS-imposed requirement to create and account and sign in to report an MS security bug. And for those not discouraged by that, [the sign-in page][6] is also broken. 1. MS suppresses democracy by [blocking][7] Github access to a project that facilitates protests in Catalonia. MS also [banned][45] the account of an anti-censorship developer. 1. In 2021 1st quarter, MS [sabotaged][46] the deCloudflare [project][47], a charitable humanitarian project that gives the general public tools and knowledge to avoid Cloudflare. MS did that silently and without warning or discussion. The user account was also suspended: ![github-ban][48] 1. Free software projects that rely on non-free software "[put everyone at the whim of the groups and individuals who produce the tools they depend on][8]," and it puts free software developers in a position of hypocrisy. ## Ethical problems with using Microsoft products and services 8. Microsoft harms the **environment** by serving the two most destructive oil companies in the world: [ExxonMobil][9] and [Chevron][10]. 1. (#ExxonKnew) Exxon notoriously [knew][11] about climate change since 1977. They not only kept it secret from the public, but they also financed a disinformation campaign. 1. Microsoft and Chevron were [caught][12] each paying $100k to "the Cloakroom", a project to hide bribes going from large corporations to republican politicians. 1. Chevron's right-leaning stance is further pushed through its membership with ALEC, which doubles as a superPAC and bill mill that lobbies and writes policy for U.S. republicans. 1. Microsoft is a notorious **privacy** abuser: 1. MS is a PRISM corporation prone to mass surveillance. 1. MS supported CISPA and [collaborates][13] with the NSA. 1. MS [paid][14] $195k to [fight][15] the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). 1. MS drug tests its employees, thus intruding on their privacy outside the workplace. 1. MS finances other privacy abusers: 1. In 2012 Microsoft spent $35 million on Facebook ads and in 2015 Microsoft was the third biggest spender on Facebook ads in the world. 1. MS proxies through Accenture to [make Sweden cashless][16]. The war on cash is war on privacy. 1. MS supplies Bing search service which gives high rankings to [privacy-abusing][17] CloudFlare websites. 1. MS owns and operates Outlook Email and the LinkedIn social media site, both of which are exclusive walled-gardens that limit participation to those who have a phone number and the will to share it with Microsoft. 1. MS supplies hotmail.com email service, which uses vigilante extremist org *Spamhaus* to force residential internet users to share all their e-mail metadata and payloads with a corporate third-party. 1. MS [unlawfully][18] used people's images without consent to train their facial recognition products 1. MS distributes a [nonfree operating system][19], Microsoft Windows, which is jam-packed with [malicious functionalities][20], including surveillance of users, DRM, censorship and a universal back door. 1. MS was [caught][21] surreptitiously recording Xbox users and paying contractors to listen to the recordings. 1. Dutch government commissioned [a study][22] which found Microsoft to have [several GDPR violations][23]. E.g. Office 365 violates [GDPR article 5][24] ΒΆ `1.c`, [GDPR article 17][25], and stores the data outside the EEA (may also be a GDPR breach). 1. (2022) Microsoft acquired Xandr from AT&T, thus [becoming a surveillance advertiser][49]. 1. Microsoft is detrimental to **human rights** and **democracy** 1. Microsoft [finances AnyVision][26] to produce facial recognition technology that the Israeli military uses as a weapon against the Palestinian people who they oppress in their occupation. Note that Israeli snipers [murdered][27] an unarmed civilian Palestinian medic (in breach of the Geneva Convention) then [edited][28] the video to deceive the public for PR damage control. 1. Microsoft [supports ICE][29] in a variety of ways in the course of ICE's implementation of Trump's xenophobic border policies. Microsoft services an ICE contract worth [$19.4 million dollars][30] despite protest from employees. In addition to MS Office products, Microsoft has renewed a [Github contract][31] and also supplies cloud computing through its [Azure platform][32]. 1. MS [partnered with FedEx][33], an NRA-supporting ALEC member as well as [JP Morgan Chase][34], the most evil bank in the world. 1. MS [conceals][35] US military contracts to bias PR and dodge social accountablity. They have a much bigger piece these contracts than the rest of MACFANG, they lack Google's [AI principles][36], and unlike Google they ignore employee protest and petitions. 1. MS is among the top 15 recipients of Trump's corporate tax breaks, a benefit of $128 billion. Microsoft [sacked hundreds of employees][37] immediately after receiving the tax breaks in February 2018. 1. MS is **anti-consumer** and anti-competitive 1. MS [tricked][38] users into "upgrading" to Windows 10, which [sabotages][39] users in a variety of ways, one of which is to [prevent cloud-free accounts][40]. 1. MS [strong-armed][41] nearly all PC manufacturers charge every buyer for an MS Windows license regardless of whether the user actually wants Windows. 1. MS [hoards][42] software patents and uses them to [fight free software][43]. 1. Github [has an F rating][44] by the FSF.