StarGateWars Forums

So now that its hit the headlines that MS has produced tools for computer forensic examiners in the law enforcement community to use what do you folks here think of the viewpoints presented by the media?

In that on the one side it is good that MS is doing all that it can to help those investigators capture data from a PC before it is lost or destroyed.

And the other side that considers it a gross breach of privacy and amounts to warantless searches and that MS is rolling over and being a lapdog to law enforcement agencies.

For those unaware of the story here are a few linkys

wikileaks - here the program in question can be aquired.

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Microsoft_COF ... ,_Sep_2009

& El Reg, where I first learnt of the 'story'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/10 ... tool_leak/

&

The inevitable result and response from 'hackers'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/14 ... _vs_decaf/

innocent until PROVEN guilty went the way of the dinosaur the moment cameras were put on the streets to enforce speed limits. if the general populace wasn't so damned lazy apathetic and trusting towards Govt they would never get away with it....

but as things stand, the general populace deserves all it gets!

Please KMA try to keep your replies on topic about how COFEE has or hasnt changed things, rather making it another generic rant about the powers of the state etc.


As for me, well my opinion of it is that well perhaps MS shouldnt have tried to keep it from the public, as it hasnt done itself any favours by doing that. Especially when you consider that COFEE is simply a GUI with some simple automation to command line tools that exist in windows OSes anyways as administrator & network tools.

By trying to restrict its audience to law enforcement personel will only fuel the idea that MS builds in backdoors to its software products for governments & security agencies.

i was waiting for that lol...

i haven't strayed off topic and it wasn't a rant mate, it was a plain and simple truth.
anyone with eyes to see and more than 1/2 a brain cell in between there ears can see that we have a system of Govt of the Corps, by the Corps, for the Corps.
also, a company like MS doesn't invest HUGE sums of money and time into developing software without a customer ready and willing to pay for it...suggesting Govt is HEAVILY involved, does it not? or do you think they developed the software in the hopes they might sell it?

edit:

you dont have to answer any of the above, completely ignore me and wait for someone else to pick up the discussion

Corps!
[spoiler][/spoiler]


Anyway. That tool is great for corporate espionage.
So. The Corps would be pretty dumb to leave it laying around.

[KMA]Avenger wrote:i was waiting for that lol...

i haven't strayed off topic and it wasn't a rant mate, it was a plain and simple truth.
anyone with eyes to see and more than 1/2 a brain cell in between there ears can see that we have a system of Govt of the Corps, by the Corps, for the Corps.
also, a company like MS doesn't invest HUGE sums of money and time into developing software without a customer ready and willing to pay for it...suggesting Govt is HEAVILY involved, does it not? or do you think they developed the software in the hopes they might sell it?

edit:

you dont have to answer any of the above, completely ignore me and wait for someone else to pick up the discussion

The software that this 'tool' uses was created by MS for use by systems & network administrators for the effective management & control of their systems. They werent created for a government or security services, however the GUI wrapper & simple automation was but then anyone with a version of windows & simple VB skills could have created the same.

Please KMA now you are making this about something it isnt, you are trying to make into another rant about the terrible NWO et all when it is nothing of the sort. It is really IMO simply a PR disaster by MS from their attempt to keep this rather lacking 'toolset' from the public & suggesting that it offers forensic investigators something useful & new.

And the original question was what were your views on the media frenzy & your opinions on the toolset itself not lets rant about the NWO et all.

EDIT: And Radience, to use it for corporate espionage would require you to have access to the machine in question & why would you want essentially a core dump from such a machine? Surely you'd want information contained in already saved files rather than information contained in the memory or swap file.

Kit-Fox wrote:

[KMA]Avenger wrote:i was waiting for that lol...

i haven't strayed off topic and it wasn't a rant mate, it was a plain and simple truth.
anyone with eyes to see and more than 1/2 a brain cell in between there ears can see that we have a system of Govt of the Corps, by the Corps, for the Corps.
also, a company like MS doesn't invest HUGE sums of money and time into developing software without a customer ready and willing to pay for it...suggesting Govt is HEAVILY involved, does it not? or do you think they developed the software in the hopes they might sell it?

edit:

you dont have to answer any of the above, completely ignore me and wait for someone else to pick up the discussion

The software that this 'tool' uses was created by MS for use by systems & network administrators for the effective management & control of their systems. They werent created for a government or security services, however the GUI wrapper & simple automation was but then anyone with a version of windows & simple VB skills could have created the same.

Please KMA now you are making this about something it isnt, you are trying to make into another rant about the terrible NWO et all when it is nothing of the sort. It is really IMO simply a PR disaster by MS from their attempt to keep this rather lacking 'toolset' from the public & suggesting that it offers forensic investigators something useful & new.

And the original question was what were your views on the media frenzy & your opinions on the toolset itself not lets rant about the NWO et all.

EDIT: And Radience, to use it for corporate espionage would require you to have access to the machine in question & why would you want essentially a core dump from such a machine? Surely you'd want information contained in already saved files rather than information contained in the memory or swap file.

[KMA]Avenger wrote:
you dont have to answer any of the above, completely ignore me and wait for someone else to pick up the discussion