atw: The Washington Post Article Follow On: "Author of report criticising Microsoft loses job"

From today's issue of the Washington Post, picked up by Yahoo today:

Microsoft Critic Forced Out/By Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Staff Writer 

A technology executive whose company does business with Microsoft Corp. has
been forced out of his job after he helped write a cybersecurity report
critical of the software giant, according to sources with knowledge of the
situation.

Massachusetts-based AtStakeInc., a computer security firm, said yesterday
that chief technology officer Daniel R. Geer Jr. is "no longer associated"
with the firm. A company statement added that Geer's participation in
preparation of the report was not sanctioned by the firm, and that "the
values and opinions of the report are not in line with [AtStake's] views." 

Reached at home, Geer said he could not comment on his departure.

Geer was one of several corporate and academic security experts who wrote
the report, which argues that Microsoft's dominance over personal-computer
operating systems and other software programs makes it easier for malicious
hackers to attack millions of machines and networks at once.

The authors made it clear when the report was released Wednesday that they
were speaking for themselves, not the companies or organizations they are
affiliated with. They challenged policymakers to evaluate Microsoft's
monopoly, and its efforts to "lock in" users to its programs by bundling
them together, as the world grapples with an alarming rise of crippling
computer worms and viruses.

The report also suggests that governments and companies diversify their
software and use their purchasing power to force Microsoft to makes its
programs work better with competing products.

Some of the report's authors are longtime Microsoft critics, as is the
Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a trade group that
has been arranging publicity for the study but did not commission it.

But those efforts were somewhat thwarted yesterday when a national
technology magazine rejected the group's request to distribute copies of the
report to its subscribers. 

The magazine, CIO (short for chief information officers), routinely "rents"
its subscriber lists -- for a fee -- to firms wanting to distribute targeted
advertising and marketing messages to its audience of executives responsible
for running corporate and government computer systems.

After receiving the report so that it could be e-mailed to the subscriber
list, the magazine informed CCIA representatives that the paper was "too
sensitive" and turned away the business.

Karen Fogarty, a CIO spokeswoman, said the magazine always reviews material
that clients want distributed, and reserves the right to reject it. She said
the report "seemed to be too one-sided" for a publication that prides itself
on balanced reporting.

At the same time, the editor for the magazine's Web site posted a poll
asking readers what they thought of the report, which he linked to through
the CCIA Web site.

Microsoft advertises extensively in CIO, although Fogarty said she could not
specify how much the company spends with the magazine. She said the decision
not to distribute the report had nothing to do with advertising concerns.

Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall said he could not comment on whether the
company had discussed the issue with CIO until he received further
information.

Microsoft has paid AtStake for software evaluation research, but Sundwall
said that "to the best of our knowledge, no one from Microsoft contacted
[AtStake] or Dan Geer regarding this report."

Lona Therrien, an AtStake spokeswoman, declined to discuss Geer's sudden
departure. She said the company had no conversations with Microsoft about
Geer or the report.

But Sundwall said that on Tuesday night, when notice of the report's pending
release was circulated, "Microsoft was contacted by [AtStake] officials . .
. expressing their disappointment in the report and saying that Dan Geer's
opinion did not reflect the position of [AtStake] and its commitment to an
ongoing relationship with Microsoft."

Another AtStake official did television interviews yesterday to express
disagreement with the report.

Microsoft has said it disagrees with the substance of the report, noting
that the CCIA supports antitrust actions against the company in the United
States and Europe. And trade groups funded by Microsoft swung quickly into
action to denounce it. 

In a statement, the Computing Technology Industry Association said the
report is flawed by "myopically looking to technology (i.e., 'bad' software
OS) instead of addressing the underlying cause -- human behavior -- for
cyber breaches."

Edward J. Black, president of CCIA, responded that Microsoft's reaction "if
anything, underlines the importance and credibility of the report and its
authors."

One of the report's authors, John S. Quarterman, founder of Matrix
NetSystems Inc., called Geer's departure unfortunate, but said it does not
alter the substance or impact of the report.

"On the Internet, worms and viruses can do more harm in a monoculture," he
said. "This is not theoretical."





George Mena
Sr. Technical Writer
ESS Technology, Inc.
48401 Fremont Blvd.
Fremont, CA USA 94538
510-492-1763
e-mail: George.Mena@xxxxxxxxxxx

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