cryptome goes down, then rises from the dead - all thanx to M$

[h3rm35]

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/25/..._takedown/
Microsoft's wiretap guide goes online, security site goes offline

Hotmail hacking how-to for spooks and cops

By John Leyden

Posted in Enterprise Security, 25th February 2010 09:09 GMT

Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer: 30-day free trial

Updated Long-established privacy and cryptology website Cryptome.org was pulled offline on Wednesday after Microsoft launched a legal offensive over its publication of Redmond's guide to internet wiretapping.

Microsoft's Global Criminal Compliance Handbook, a 22 page booklet designed solely for police and intelligence services, provides an overview of Microsoft's online services, what information it collects on users and how long it keeps it. The guide also explains how to serve warrants and how to make sense of the records it stores to understand, for example, when and to who a Hotmail user sent an email.

Redmond's lawyers used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in an attempt to force Cryptome to pull the guide, a request it refused, before going to hosting provider Network Solutions. The firm not only complied with this order but went one step further by placing a lock on the Cryptome.org domain to keep the site down.

Cryptome.org remain unavailbel but the site, minus the controversial Microsoft documents, can still be found at cryptomeorg.siteprotect.net (http://cryptomeorg.siteprotect.net/).

The secret government surveillance document didn't stay offline for long and was soon republished on Wikileaks which, unlike Cryptome, has a distributed system not tied to a US registered domain.

Cryptome, which began way back in 1996 and serves as an outlet for whistleblowers, previously got into hot water for publishing Microsoft's point-and-click "computer forensics for cops" COFFEE tool back in November.

More background on the circumstances of the Cryptome DMCA takedown can be found on the Geekosystems blog here (http://www.geekosystem.com/cryptome-leak...akedown/).

The blog reports that last year Cryptome published a surveillance guide from Yahoo, similar to Microsoft's but including a price-list for lawful interception compliance absent from Redmond's run-down.
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Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/25/...withdrawl/
Cryptome restored after Microsoft change of heart

Redmond rescinds DMCA takedown

By Austin Modine in San Francisco

Posted in Music and Media, 25th February 2010 20:00 GMT

Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer: 30-day free trial

Microsoft has rescinded the copyright complaint that resulted in the shutdown (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/25/...takedown/) of the long-standing whistleblower website, Cryptome.org, after it published Redmond's spy guide for law enforcement.

The company said it has asked Cryptome's ISP, Network Solutions, that the website be restored and that it no longer wants the offending document to be killed. On Wednesday, Cryptome hosted a 22-page PDF that outlines what information Microsoft gathers about its users and what can be handed over to authorities if required.

Similar guidelines for law enforcement have leaked their way to the website before, exposing the policies of Facebook, AOL, Skype, and Yahoo, among others.

Microsoft lawyers swung the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) in an attempt to force Cryptome to pull the document. When it refused to take action, Microsoft complained to Network Solutions, which not only closed the website, but placed a lock on the Cryptome.org domain to keep it closed.

<p.But as first reported on ReadWriteWeb (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mic...teWeb%29), Microsoft has suddenly had a change of heart.

"We take our responsibility to protect our customers privacy very seriously, so have specific guidelines that we use when responding to law enforcement requests," a Microsoft spokeswoman told El Reg in an emailed statement. "In this case, we did not ask that this site be taken down, only that Microsoft copyrighted content be removed. We are requesting to have the site restored and are no longer seeking the document's removal."

Network Solutions confirmed it has received the withdrawal notification and has restored access to the website.

Cryptome previously ran afoul of Microsoft's legal dogs after it published the software giant's point-and-click "computer forensics for cops (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/24/...ake_down/)" COFFEE tool. The website also had a similar DMCA dust-up with Yahoo! last year when it revealed the company's law enforcement spying price (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/2009120...228.shtml) list.


read the 22 pg. .pdf here