February 12, 2004

No Rumor: Windows Source Code Loose on the 'Net eWeek - Microsoft Corp. was busy denying rumors late Thursday that a copy of the source code for Windows NT and Windows 2000 had leaked and been posted on the Internet. Later in the night, the company confirmed the leak. Several tech sites, most notably Slashdot, had message threads reporting that the code had leaked and speculation was rampant on how the alleged leak may have happened. However, in an Associated Press report filed later in the evening, Microsoft officials confirmed the leak. The spokesman said that "some incomplete portions of its Windows 2000 and Windows NT4 source code had been 'illegally made available on the Internet'."  10:37:11 PM

Soldier held on espionage charge CNN - A National Guard soldier faces charges of trying to pass information about military capabilities to the al Qaeda terrorist organization, military officials said Thursday. UPDATE: [Intstapundit] RYAN ANDERSON, the National Guardsman charged with Al Qaeda ties, is a Muslim convert. What's interesting is that before he converted, Anderson also used to be interested in militia groups, and used to post on the misc.activism.militia Usenet group. I've noted the danger of links between extremist right-wing groups and radical Muslim extremists before, and though this sort of crossover might seem odd, I think that many of these guys are driven more by generalized anger toward society than by a coherent ideology. And, of course, there's the unifying thread of antisemitism to make the transition easier. 10:34:08 PM