Microsoft makes hundreds of thousands of dollars selling user's information to the FBI?

Wonderful...

Via The Daily Caller:

Secret invoices from Microsoft to the FBI obtained via hacks by the Syrian Electronic Army reveal the Silicon Valley giant charges a secret division of the bureau for legal access to users’ information.
The army has become notorious for infiltrating the networks and social media accounts of western companies and media outlets in recent years, and submitted the documents to The Daily Dot for analysis. Its most recent Microsoft hack took place in January, when the organization seized Microsoft’s Twitter and email accounts, reportedly to distract employees while achieving its “main mission.”
Emails and invoices between the FBI’s Digital Intercept Technology Unit and Microsoft’s Global Criminal Compliance team show a charge between $50 and $200 for access to customer information, with totals stretching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars – the most recent from November 2013 topping out at $281,000.
A specialist cited by the Dot confirmed the authenticity of the documents, but neither Microsoft nor the FBI would confirm or deny their contents.

Documents appear to show Microsoft bent over backwards to accommodate NSA spying on users of it's products...

Here is another good reason to dislike Microsoft...

The documents show that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;
• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;
• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;
• Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;
• In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;
• Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

Obama repays billionaire supporters by charging them billions more in tax

President Obama has rolled out a tax crackdown on companies doing business overseas. He is claims he is closing loopholes that send jobs overseas. If enacted by Congress, this change will cost many U.S. companies billions. The high tech sector will be among the hardest hit. In a great example of "karma," many of these companies are closely tied to or led by Obama campaign supporters. Bill Gates endorsed Obama ahead of the 2008 election. This change will cost Microsoft over $1 billion a year in additional taxes. Google CEO Eric Schmidt campaigned for the president last year and has subsequently served as a technology adviser. This change will cost Google over $1 billion and raise their effective tax rate from 27.8 percent to 45.2 percent according to their 2008 annual report. We can only hope Obama supporter Warren Buffet is holding some of those distressed Chrysler and GM bonds. AP reported:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Barack Obama's plan to impose U.S. taxes on corporate America's overseas profits threatens to open a big crater in the financial statements of technology companies.

While additional taxes are rarely popular, Obama's decision to go after corporate earnings outside the United States is a particularly prickly subject for technology executives because the industry has been steadily boosting its overseas sales amid rising demand for its gadgetry and services.

If Obama's proposal becomes law, the hard-hit companies would include tech bellwethers like Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. Each of those companies realized a benefit of more than $1 billion from lower foreign tax rates in their most recent fiscal years — an advantage that could lost if Obama is able to change the rules.

Microsoft to overpaid fired employees-you keep it

A Microsoft spokesman said, "This was a mistake on our part." I am glad they came to their senses.

Microsoft drops payback demand on ex-workers
Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:48pm EST

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has dropped an attempt to recoup some severance money from 25 recently fired workers it mistakenly overpaid.

The Redmond, Washington-based company, which announced a plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs in January, acknowledged on Sunday that it had tried to get the overpaid workers to return the extra money. But late on Monday, it reversed course.

"This was a mistake on our part," said a Microsoft spokesman in an e-mailed statement. "We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner." (excerpt) read more at reuters.com

Microsoft wants laid off employees to return severance pay

Microsoft wants laid off employees to return part of their severance pay. I guess over $50 billion is not enough money for Bill Gates. Microsoft recently laid off 1400 workers ,mostly in the US. They have now decided their severance package was too big. They have sent the a letter (see picture) to them asking for the money back. Perhaps some of those mosquitoes Bill Gates recently released at a tech conference have infected him with an insanity virus.

Microsoft wants refund from some laid off workers
by Steven Musil

Microsoft says it made an accounting error when it laid off some employees last month and now feels the best way to correct the error is with what will likely add up to a public relations blunder.

The software giant, which recently laid off 1,400 employees, sent letters (see image below) this week to some of those former workers letting them know that their severance payouts were a bit too "generous" and respectfully requested that the former employees pay back that money, according to a report Saturday on TechCrunch.


"An inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft," the letter states. "We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you."

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the authenticity of a letter posted on TechCrunch, but declined further comment, saying it was "a private matter between the company and the affected people.(excerpt) read more at news.cnet.com

Should Bill Gates be prosecuted?

Bill Gates released a swarm of potentially deadly mosquitoes at a technology conference and yelled, 'There's no reason only poor people should get malaria'. What an idiot. While it is unlikely these mosquitoes were malaria carriers, there are a host of other potentially fatal diseases that mosquitoes carry. Among these diseases are various forms of encephalitis and West Nile virus that are common among North American Mosquitoes. My granddaughter got La Crosse encephalitis from mosquitoes a few years ago. She spent several very scary days in pediatric intensive care. Anyone who would deliberately release these potentially deadly disease carriers in an enclosed area, occupied by people, should be charged with criminal negligence. If someone deliberately released poisonous snakes at a conference and yelled, 'Rural people aren't the only ones who should get bit,' they would be arrested. Bill Gates endangered the people at that conference and should pay for his crime. He should not get a free pass because he has billions of dollars.

'There's no reason only poor people should get malaria': The moment Bill Gates released jar of mosquitoes at packed conference

By David Gardner
Last updated at 6:36 PM on 05th February 2009

It was a show-stopping move by any standards.

Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft and a renowned philanthropist, let loose a swarm of mosquitoes at a technology conference in California to highlight the dangers of malaria.

‘Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,’ the Microsoft founder yelled at a well-heeled crowd at a technology conference in California.

’I brought some,’ he added. ‘Here, I’ll let them roam around – there is no reason only poor people should be infected.’ (excerpted) read more at dailymail.co.uk

Bill Gates throws Americans under the bus

Hard economic times are forcing job cuts at many businesses. Most Americans understand that; even if they deplore it. This economic downturn has even hit Microsoft. They are downsizing 5000 jobs. Of the 1400 they cut immediately, 873 were in the Puget Sound area where the company is headquartered. None of the cuts are going to be in India. Can you think of a better reason to avoid Microsoft products when possible?

Microsoft to axe 5,000, no job cuts in India
Times of India ^

"Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, HR, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today," the company said in a statement.

The layoff, however, would not be impacting the Indian operations. "It's not going to impact us. No job cuts in India," a Microsoft India spokesperson said in New Delhi.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...