Jiri’s Notepad

 Scott Loftesness reports on a WSJ story about Microsoft Passport quoting the article 

“But European privacy authorities last year said the system raised “legal issues,” including the “value and quality of the consent given” by users and the “security risks associated” with the transfer of their data to Passport’s partners.”

Now since I am not a WSJ subscriber, it is hard to say whether the quote is representative of the whole article but compare it with the following quote from the last week’s release by Reuters:

“The EU’s privacy watchdogs are expected to say next week that Microsoft’s .NET Passport system broadly complies with EU data protection rules and only minor changes are needed, EU sources said.”

I am no fan of Bill Gates, but the WSJ seems to guilty of Microsoft-bashing that is so popular in mainstream press these days. I think it would be quite strange if European Commision actually found something against Passport. Why? Because in their settlement with FTC in regards to Passport back in August, Microsoft agreed to adhere to rules that seem to be almost entirely based on European data protection principles. Of course, I haven’t seen the original WSJ article so I may be wrong. anyway, we will see the context by the end of the weak, when the EC opinion on the Passport is going to be published.