In court yesterday Microsoft VP Jim Allchin defended the security exception to disclosure in the proposed Microsoft-DoJ settlement, which is derided by opponents as "security by obscurity," but under cross-examination by States" attorney Kevin Hodges he went some way toward defining the protocols and APIs that Microsoft would keep security under the banner of security.
The precise meaning of the clauses in the proposed settlement referred to here needn"t detain us, but the protocols and APIs have some considerable relevance, because they"ll help us assess how strong Microsoft"s argument is. If the wider disclosure provisions of the States" proposals were implemented, Allchin argues that " the risks are greatly increased that valuable information stored on computers will be stolen and that computers will be subjected to malicious attacks."