An FBI task force hunted Saturday for a cyber-criminal who posted on the Internet source code for Windows, the jewels of Microsoft's software empire.
In jeopardy is Microsoft's near-monopoly on operating systems found on 90 percent of the world's personal computers.
"I can confirm that" the North-west Cybercrime Task Force was investigating, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said.
"Microsoft source code is both copyrighted and protected as a trade secret," the company said in a statement posted on its Web site on Saturday.
"As such, it is illegal to post it, make it available to others, download it or use it," the statement said.
The posted program is part of the source codes, or blueprints, for Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0, according to the company.
Counterfeiters have been trying to get their hands on Windows source code for years. So have computer activists who say that programs could be made to work better with Windows if the source code were public.
Microsoft said that its own security had not been breached by whomever did the posting, nor was it released by a series of companies and governments with whom it shares the source code for the purpose of building software to work with Windows.
In any case, Microsoft's code allows the company to keep its near-monopoly on computer operating systems, for the same reason Coca-Cola guards its secret formula.
Microsoft expects revenue in the fiscal year ending June 30 to range between US$35.6 billion and US$35.9 billion, with operating income of between US$10.3 billion and US$10.6 billion.
The incident could deal a painful blow to the company which was founded in Redmond, Washington in 1975.
The announcement of the leak came on the same day Microsoft pushed in Washington for tougher anti-counterfeit legislation in the US and worldwide, saying pervasive pirating of computer software was hurting the industry.
Pirated programs account for 25 percent of software used in the US and 40 percent of software used worldwide, according to industry officials. In parts of Asia and the former Soviet Union piracy rates approach 90 percent, they said.
As a result, the US software industry loses US$13 billion a year for counterfeiting and other forms of software piracy.
The task force, which battles counterfeiting as well as child pornography and identity theft, comprises the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, Seattle police and the Washington State Patrol, Burroughs said.
The US Congress is considering legislation designed to close a number of legal loopholes often allowing counterfeiters to get away with their activities, specifically prohibiting trafficking in genuine authentication components.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS