Deported Russian (Spy?) Worked At Microsoft 162
subtropolis writes "KOMO News in Seattle is reporting that a recently-deported 23-yr-old Russian man 'appears to have ties to the recently-exposed Russian counterintelligence' (according to unnamed Feds). The article states that he admitted to unspecified immigration violations and was promptly shown the door on Tuesday. It also says that 'Microsoft confirms Karetnikov worked as an entry-level software tester for less than a year.' So, I'm thinking that MS had better take a really good at their logs for that time. He may have got in at 'entry-level' but his abilities may have been a fair bit beyond that. ... Interestingly, his admission to mere 'violations' and swift departure would be right in line with how this swap has gone down. The four Russians who were flown to Britain and the US had to first sign a confession before President Medvedev granted them pardons." The same news is at CBS News, too.
College faculty and students have access too (Score:3, Informative)
microsoft has freely given its source code to the kgb (rolls eyes):
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/07/09/0042238/Microsoft-Opens-Source-Code-To-KGBs-Successor-Agency [slashdot.org]
It's not just governments. Microsoft gives some college faculty and students complete access to Windows source code. They have to be part of a research team doing something Microsoft finds interesting, sign NDAs, etc. Microsoft gets access to their work but there are no restrictions on publishing their research. A friend was on such a team when he was a grad student.
Re:Modern Spying (Score:3, Informative)
French intelligence, DGSE, is the only one that I know to admit that about 25% of their budget is for corporate espionage.