[Reader-list] New Microsoft software erodes privacy ->Tories blast Blair for Microsoft links

[Steef Heus]

And then read what happens if a government joints forces with Microsoft.
This is about the UK, but MS also won a contract with the Dutch government
and really put effort in winning contracts in other countries as well.
I just picked out the relevant parts from the article, as it actually is
about Blair attending the promotional launch of Windows XP. For full article
see http://networknews.vnunet.com/News/1122151
In the article they missed the privacy thing. But maybe a government is a
potential user of all the features MS can offer them?

Steef Heus

By Ian Lynch [30-05-2001]
...(cut).....

But the Blair government has been nothing if not keen to associate itself
with the Redmond giant. Indeed, when Compaq pulled out of its flagship
secure transaction Government Gateway portal, it was to Microsoft that
Downing Street turned.

The Gateway project is a centralised registration service for all
e-government services in the UK, and is a key part of Labour's ambition to
put 100 per cent of its services online by 2005. E-envoy Andrew Pinder
attended an international conference in March to pitch the system to other
governments in conjunction with Microsoft.

The Gateway currently relies on digital certificates from either Equifax or
ChamberSign to authenticate transactions, but Equifax certificates can
currently only be used with Internet Explorer 5.01 or later, and ChamberSign
certificates are not currently supported on version 6 of the Netscape
Navigator browser.

An investigation by LinuxUser magazine has slammed the Gateway for imposing
a "Microsoft tax" on potential users.

The article said: "As we go to press, the authentication service
www.gateway.gov.uk, flagship of the UK Government's ambitious policy of
providing a complete range of services electronically by 2005, restricts
access to anybody not running a combination of Windows and Internet
Explorer.

"Mac users can enter the Gateway site but cannot do anything useful. Windows
users running any version of Mozilla or Opera are barred from entry. Anybody
else, including those running Linux or Unix of any flavour, is not welcome.
They are told that they are running an unsupported browser.

"Critics say that such a state of affairs is untenable, not just because
companies that use other operating systems cannot gain access to pay their
tax and the like, but also because the implication is that the Government is
committed to one vendor."