One of the authors of the security paper (PDF file) that said Microsoft was a threat to national security has been fired, according to CNET. Cambridge, Mass-based @Stake, where Dan Geer worked as chief technical officer, said in a statement Thursday that the researcher had not gotten his employers’ approval for the study’s release, and that he was no longer associated with the company. Although independently financed and researched, the study was distributed by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a Washington-based trade association largely made up of Microsoft’s rivals.A Microsoft spokesman said the software maker had not pressured @Stake to make any decision on Geer’s status. Bruce
Schneier, a security expert and co-author of the report, saw things differently, according to CNET. He said the idea for the report had come from Geer and the other researchers, not from the CCIA or other Microsoft rivals. The group had found it hard to find other researchers to sign on to the idea, even if those approached agreed with the study’s premises, he said. “When we were conceiving and writing the report, a surprising number of researchers said ‘No,’ because of the fear of Microsoft,” Schneier said. “Dan was not talking for @Stake. We were speaking as researchers. The fact that @Stake couldn’t get around that shows the pressure that Microsoft brings to bear.”