Microsoft Denies NSA Backdoor in Windows 7 [No Exploits Deliberately Coded in Win 7, Privacy Ensured]

Richard Schaeffer is the NSA official who said before the Senate’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the National Security Agency has been working closely with Microsoft to enhance Windows 7’s security guide, igniting fear that the software giant has deliberately coded a backdoor into the newly announced operating system. But given Microsoft’s announcement today, it’s all speculation, as they have “not and will not put ‘backdoors’ into Windows”.

Apparently, the big issue is that the NSA had somethign to do with the creation of Windows, as Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center (EPIC), has pointed out that the NSA has a dual mission, COMPUSEC, computer security, now called cyber security, and SIGINT, signals intelligence, in other words surveillance.”

More to it, considering that the US government is one of the most important customers for Redmond and given the bad economy, some would be tempted to believe that Microsoft has given in and granted NSA’s wishes. But there’s the other side of the story. Knowing that their software has privacy issues, more and more customers (including businesses) would be tempted to let go — which would lead to a much bigger issues.

So you, our reader, what do you think? Is your privacy ensured with Microsoft?