Microsoft Denies It Built Backdoor Into Windows 7 (Slashdot)

[Drew Wilson]

Microsoft has denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system. 'Microsoft has not and will not put "backdoors" into Windows,' a company spokeswoman said, reacting to a Computerworld story Wednesday. On Monday, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the agency had partnered with the developer during the creation of Windows 7 'to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide.' Thursday's categorical denial by Microsoft was accompanied by further explanation of exactly how the NSA participated in the making of Windows 7. 'The work being discussed here is purely in conjunction with our Security Compliance Management Toolkit,' said the spokeswoman. The company rolled out the Windows 7 version of the toolkit late last month, shortly after it officially launched the operating system.

Source

Of course we would never allow the NSA to write in a back door into the operating system, allowing them to spy on your every day activities. It's perposterous to believe that the NSA would do that after installing a data splitter on the backbone of AT&T, allowing us to spy on every day common Americans, then ram rodding through legislation to grant legal immunity, thus bi-passing the constitution altogether so as to make the NSA's activities magically legal after a few shady deals with the previous and current administration. You people are insane to believe this, honest!

[mountain_rage]

The U.S. government had a hand in overlooking the security of Windows for a long time now. They do it because it is installed on all their machines, and they must ensure that it is secure enough if they are to use it for the military, and other sensitive government computers. That isn't to say that its not possible that they have no implemented a program that secretly spies on you, but even if something of that nature exists, it wouldn't be long before someone picks up the presence in their outbound traffic and ruins Microsofts reputation.