Microsoft & the fishy Phishing Filter

Linked article discusses MS's new anti-phishing technology for its web browser, the so-called "Phishing Filter", which was initially due to be released with the upcoming IE7 but has been made available already as an add-on to current versions.

The main issue with this new bit of software that has privacy pundits extremely concerned is that the tool sends information about user's surfing habits back straight back to MS.

Of course, they're denying any intention of storing or using this data for anything but phishing protection purposes... but, please, this is Microsoft. The world's most popular liars.

Kevin Bankston, a lawyer and Internet privacy expert with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, has said this is potentially “a wholesale handing over of one’s privacy to Microsoft. I would say, right now, definitely don’t use this. If you’re careful, you don’t need this.”

“There are clear financial imperatives for them to choose to make use of this information in the future and start logging it,” he said. “It is not hard to imagine the gold that could be mined out of that information.”

Phishing Filter indeed... Fishing Filter is more like it.

I would find Microsoft seriously laughable... if only they weren't so serious.