Microsoft Spying On Live Messenger Messages, Censoring Any Pirate Bay Links
from the even-legit-ones dept
It's really disturbing how some companies overblock certain content and feel that they have the right to insert themselves into your ability to communicate. A few years ago, we noted that Facebook had blocked any and all links to The Pirate Bay. When asked about this, the company said that due to the "controversy" around the site, it was going to assume that all TPB links were infringing and violated the site's terms of service. It looks like Microsoft is going down a similar route. Apparently you can no longer send a TPB link via its Live Messenger instant messaging tool. I've never used Windows Messenger so can't test this, but it's pretty ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the explanation, as it apparently tells people that the site was "reported as unsafe."As TorrentFreak points out, the whole thing makes little sense since lots of other content is perfectly shareable via Live Messenger:
Whatever Microsoft’s reason for monitoring private conversations and then swallowing Pirate Bay links, the Redmond-based company’s censorship policies are not very consistent. All of the other large BitTorrent sites remain unaffected, even though they offer content that’s identical to The Pirate Bay.This is troubling on a number of fronts. First of all, a link by itself should never be considered infringing. There may be content at the end of a series of links that is infringing, but blocking at the link level is really extreme and dangerous. Second, of course, is the fact that not all TPB content is infringing. Yes, an awful lot of it is almost certainly infringing. But automatically deciding that all of it is and not letting people share such links is extreme and dangerous. Cutting off legitimate speech should never be an option. Finally, the really scary part is the realization that Microsoft appears to be monitoring content being shared in private communication between two individuals in an instant messenger conversation. It seems like a pretty strong reason never to use Microsoft's Live Messenger.
Filed Under: censorship, instant messaging, links, monitoring
Companies: microsoft, the pirate bay