Although I agree with Microsoft's position here, one line stuck out as absurd:<p>>An analysis of recent cyber-attacks was able to identify five countries using offensive cyber capabilities between 2012 and 2015: Russia, China, North Korea, France and Israel.<p>A study of cyber-attacks was done, and the United States was not included on the list of countries? From Stuxnet to Vault 7 to US officials openly bragging about our cyber attacks on Russia (and others), there is no dispute that we are among the most active countries in the world when it comes to cyber-attacks. Ask Angela Merkel what she thinks about it. Absurd posturing by Microsoft to leave us off the list.<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/08/nsa-tapped-german-chancellery-decades-wikileaks-claims-merkel" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/08/nsa-tapped-g...</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7</a><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-russia-grid.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-r...</a>
It's odd to see something this naive published by Microsoft. Software arms-dealers currently operate in very similar ways and have equivalent relationships with government that physical arms dealers do. They provide value and provide services that unfortunately are a <i>necessary</i> evil for nation states, the ability to strike and harm their adversaries via software. Sure, I disagree with the ethics of the situation (as much as I do with the free-agency of arms-dealers who sell AK's to african war lords and missiles to terrorists), but to say they "don't deserve a free pass" is really just a cheap take from Microsoft and largely it's never going to even be Microsoft's decision.<p>The even more cynical alternative take of the publication is that Microsoft wants governments to prosecute groups who profit from their sloppy work. Which is ironic, since the only reason they write windows exploits is because Microsoft has a de-facto monopoly on government / consumer operating systems.