credit where credit is due

[Gary Stoneburner <gary.stoneburner@nist.gov>]

re:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/977567.asp?0dm=C16PT

"Gates answers cop’s plea for help"

MS gets a lot of negative press for software vulnerabilities.  But
it seems that Bill Gates made a good, and "he really didn't have
to" decision here.

"A “really rotten day” at work in late January prompted a
just-about-had-it Toronto police officer to e-mail a spontaneous plea to
the world’s richest man for help fighting child pornography. “To be real
honest, I didn’t expect anything back. I didn’t even save the e-mail,”
said Detective Sgt. Paul Gillespie, a 25-year veteran of the Toronto
force."

"BUT HIS EFFORT paid off. Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates
forwarded the e-mail to Microsoft Canada. 'Three weeks later, I got a
call. They said, ’We’d like to talk to you about your e-mail,” Gillespie
recalled.'  

"I just wondered if there was a possibility of designing ...
software to assist some of our investigators,' Gillespie said. At least
so they don’t have to always go look at these awful images ... and have
nightmares every night."

"Microsoft Canada has already invested $450,000 in the software
project, which got under way in February, and does not know what the
final cost will be."

Cheers,
Gary

**************************************************************************
* Opinions expressed are not intended to reflect an official position
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* Gary Stoneburner
* Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards & Technology
* 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8930, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930         
* Phone: 301-975-5394, FAX: 301-948-0279, Email: Stoneburner@nist.gov
* http://csrc.nist.gov/staff/stoneburner/gshome.html
**************************************************************************