Microsoft Tunisia Scandal

The Microsoft Tunisia Scandal refers to the deal struck between Microsoft and the Government of Tunisia in 2006 under President Ben Ali. Under this deal Microsoft agreed to provide the former Tunisian Government with IT Training, Cyber security, and access to Microsoft proprietary source code in return to buying 12,000 licensed MS software and turn around a government that was adopting open source practices for over five years. This issue was first highlighted by the Wikileaks cables released in September, 2011. However, the original cable was sent from the Tunisian US Embassy on the 22nd of September 2006.^[1]

History

With a shrinking sales market that has more or less peaked within the developed nations by the end of 2005, Microsoft was in search for new markets, and emerging markets were the most lucrative of all. Having focused on the North African region, the biggest challenge identified within this market was piracy.^[2] To tackle this, Microsoft needed to get the Governments on their side, as any policy or law requires the government's support and intervention. However, the Tunisian government in this case was clearly not interested and has already started following open source initiatives since 2001. In addition to using pirated copies of Microsoft Windows within the Government departments itself.^[3]

The negotiations exhausted nearly 5 years of deliberations marked largely by uncertainty. Microsoft's Tunisia Director complained about how difficult the process was. Specifically ranting about how the Government of Tunisia required a "tailor made" deal, and how they continued to distrust her and accuse here of "working for the Americans". Nonetheless, the company was successful at identifying the right course to tackle such issues. More specifically identifying Leila Ben Ali as a backdoor to insuring the success of the deal. This alongside providing the controversial Cyberspace security training to government officials,^[4] sealing the deal in 2006. The cable states "Even as the goal of expanding employment opportunities for handicapped Tunisians is worthy, the program's affiliation with Leila Ben Ali's charity is indicative of the backroom maneuvering sometimes required to finalize a deal".^[5]

Involved People

The agreement was signed in South Africa by Salwa Smaoui on the behalf of Microsoft and by Khedija Ghariani Secretary of State for Computers, Internet, and Free Software, on behalf of the Government of Tunisia. The deal took nearly 5 years to cultivate into an agreement as the Tunisian Government did not want an ordinary deal, and demanded additional terms that were tailored to their situation.^[6]

The agreement

In July 2006, the Tunisian government signed a deal with Microsoft at a Forum in South Africa.^[7] The exact details of the deal were then unclear, however in September that same year, the Director of Microsoft Tunisia Salwa Smaoui highlighted the main services that would be provided to the government of Tunisia at a meeting with the American Embassy's Economic Officers. The following were the final agreed on services:

• Work on GOT's e-governance,
• Cooperation with Cyber Security,
• Cooperation with Property Rights,
• Capacity development for Tunisian IT programs.^[8]

The deal ultimately lead to the sale of 12,000 licensed software to a government that previously was not only using pirated copies of MS Windows, but had also initiated open source practices since 2001. The relevant wikileaks document stated that "Additionally, future Government of Tunisia tenders for IT equipment will specify that the equipment must be Microsoft compatible, which is currently prohibited by the Tunisian open software policy.".^[9] The deal was seen as "vital", according to the director of Microsoft Tunisia, "The fact that the government relied on open source software drastically limited business in Tunisia and prevented Microsoft from participating in GOT[Government of Tunisia] tenders" stated the cable.

Influencing Leila Ben Ali

According to the Salwa Smaoui Microsoft had also agreed to Training handicapped persons in IT. This is to the purpose of enabling them in gaining jobs in the IT industry and specifically in the Telecommuting services. Leïla Ben Ali, then the first lady of Tunisia, had launched a number of false philanthropic initiatives including the founding of Basma Association.^[10] The Association focuses on helping secure employment for the disabled. The Microsoft deal was therefore engineered to meet the first lady's private affairs and interests^[11] and hence influence the decision of the Government of Tunisia. Overall, this Microsoft Technology effectively enabled the Tunisian government to pose as Facebook if they wished to do so.

Cyber Security

"Through a program on cyber criminality, Microsoft will train government officials in the Ministries of Justice and Interior on how to use computers and the internet to fight crime." reported the US Embassy.^[12] It is not clear how far these services in particular expand, and whether they played a leading role in apprehending insubordinate bloggers and tracking citizen activities within Tunisia.

The cable it self states the following regarding this training agreement: "In theory, increasing GOT law enforcement capability through IT training is positive, but given heavy-handed GOT interference in the internet, Post questions whether this will expand GOT capacity to monitor its own citizens."

Citizen Surveillance and Hacking

The Tunisian National Digital Certification Agency announced on February 2007 the inclusion of their root certificate to the latest version of Internet Explorer.^[13] This root privilege entitles the Tunisian Authority access to SSL connections, typical in logging into webpages. Hacker News has reported this change in the Certification structure within Tunisia. The report states that since Tunisia has its own certification agency, it was capable of adjusting the certification structure in order to intercept internet messages.^[14] This basically enabled the Government of Tunisia to use the notorious Man-in-the-middle attack in order to intercept connections between citizens and Facebook, twitter, ...etc. Since 2007, major social-media services and email applications were widely reported to have been hacked into. Most intensely during the Tunisian revolution.^[15][16][17]

Tunisian users who did not use Microsoft web-browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Google chrome were immune or at least less vulnerable to this attack.

Outcome for Microsoft

For Microsoft this was mostly about their fight against piracy and enlisting a potentially large and continuing partner. In addition, it was an important chip in the fight against open source software in a market that is largely pro open-source.^[18] Getting the government on the right side of debate would further enabled the dominance of proprietorial software. "The country’s retirement administration Caisse Nationale de Retraite et de Prévoyance Sociale (CNRPS) and power and utility monopoly STEG, are among the many other companies have deployed open source software arguing that it not only saves them in terms of cost but provides a different value proposition than proprietary software".

Microsoft was expected to retain a total of TND 7.8 Million(then USD ~7.5 Million) in 2009 from the software used by the various administrations and ministries. The biggest being the Ministry of Higher Education.^[19] A very important player in determining the shape of the future market.

Microsoft's Response to the Leaks

Shortly after the wikileaks document surfaced many questions were raised inregards to the Microsoft and Tunisia Partnership, and specifically the Cyberspace Security training. The following was the response provided by Microsoft to US Salon Magazine when asked for comments: "Microsoft partners with countries around the world to help spur local IT innovation and job creation, help broaden access to IT, and to enable governments to adopt IT in the delivery of services to citizens. This has been the focus of our work in Tunisia"^[20] (6/9/2011).

References

1. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
2. ^ http://www.north-africa.com/naj_news/news_na/2noveighteen09.html
3. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
4. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
5. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
6. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
7. ^ http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security/2011/09/05/wikileaks-microsoft-aided-former-tunisian-regime-40093837/
8. ^ http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/us-diplomat-concern-at-microsoft-links-to-tunisian-regime-38753
9. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
10. ^ http://www.tunisiaonlinenews.com/presidential-couple-inaugurates-basma-centre-for-the-integration-of-disabled/
11. ^ http://allafrica.com/stories/201006250167.html
12. ^ http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=06TUNIS2424&q=microsoft
13. ^ http://www.certification.tn/index.php?id=323
14. ^ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2138565
15. ^ http://www.fastcompany.com/1715575/tunisian-government-hacking-facebook-gmail-anonymous
16. ^ http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/the-inside-story-of-how-facebook-responded-to-tunisian-hacks/70044/
17. ^ http://nawaat.org/portail/2009/04/04/tunisias-dubious-honor-in-internet-censorship/
18. ^ http://www.north-africa.com/naj_news/news_na/2noveighteen09.html
19. ^ http://www.north-africa.com/naj_news/news_na/2noveighteen09.html
20. ^ http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/09/06/wikileaks_microsoft_tunisia