How NSA access was built into Windows

[Claude Jones]

On Mon January 15 2007 12:06 am, Peter Gordon wrote:
> The thing about Windows is that it is entirely proprietary: Only
> Microsoft and select others can look at the source code (and perhaps not
> even the whole of it).
>
> SELinux, on the other hand, is entirely Free. It, like other
> kernel/security projects, is scrutinized by a great many (several
> hundred? thousand(s)?) developers from around the globe; not just one
> owner. Had anything similar found its way into SELinux, it would be
> quickly removed and the committing developer removed from the project
> most likely. :)

I would think that you're right, but that's just surmising on my part. I did 
check just now for the supposed offending "ADVAPI.DLL" in the c:
\windows\system directory on my XP vm that's running on this machine. It's 
not there - there's an advapi32.dll in the c:\windows\system32 folder, but, 
that certainly raises a flag in my mind about the article. 

I really cited that article more to raise the issue of Selinux and the NSA. 
I've never seen any discussion on this list about that, and I've wondered 
why. Being an American, and living in my country under the current 
administration, the matter has certainly raised questions in my own mind. I'm 
not personally concerned about who sees what on my machines, but the broader 
issue involved is still relevant concerning questions of over-reaching govt. 
and erosion of civil liberties, and protections against unsupervised 
warrantless surveillance

I mostly find it curious that the matter just hasn't even come up...
-- 
Claude Jones
Brunswick, MD, USA