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The
War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings & Torture |
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Mahmudiya Documentation: False Phishing
Alerts by Microsoft |
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Paris, May 9th,
2009 - False Phishing Alert This website has been following and documenting the
media reports and court proceedings covering the circumstances of the
Mahmudiya Massacre since it had been reported for the first time in July of
2006. Over the past years, I have noticed a growing interest in my
documentation, resulting in increased web traffic. This was especially true
for the past week, when the civil trial against Steven Green started. Today, when reviewing and browsing my website with
the Internet Explorer, I came across the following phishing alert from
Microsoft, when I tried to open the Mahmudiya
Images Page:
Needless to say, I do not collect any personal or
financial information via my website from anyone who is browsing my website.
Consequently, I informed Microsoft about the false alarm and received 30
minutes later the following e-mail: Subject: SRX1101578283ID From: Microsoft SmartScreen/Phishing Filter Support Date: 9:21 PM Thank you for
contacting us about: http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/DOD/iraq_II/mahmudiya_docs/images.htm. We have reviewed
the information you provided regarding this website and removed the incorrect
designation. We thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please note that
although we have removed the incorrect designation, it may take up to 24
hours for you to see this change reflected. In the event that
the incorrect designation persists beyond 24 hours from the receipt of this
e-mail message, please let us know by replying directly to this message.
Please do not reply unless the problem persists. Thank you, Microsoft
SmartScreen/Phishing Filter Support I subsequently wrote a second e-mail to Microsoft,
inquiring about the reason for the false alert. So far, I have not received a
response to my second e-mail. In the meantime I discovered three more webpages,
press reports about the Steven Green trial, which have been designated by
Microsoft as unsafe: http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2009-2/20090507.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2009-2/20090507-1.htm http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2009-2/20090507-2.htm Naturally, I alerted Microsoft again, but so far, I have
not been re-contacted by them. In view of the fact that the verdict in the Steven
Green trial has recently been pronounced and that the sentencing phase will
start in two days, I tend to think of foul play by people, who would like to
block my web site and any pages in it, which cover the Steven Green trial. All I can say is that it is safe to browse my
website. “Only” the contents might be disturbing to some viewers. Sincerely, Martin Ottmann May 10th,
2009 - Update Finally, Microsoft has removed the last false
designation from the above-mentioned webpages. Still, no word about the
reason for the false blacklisting: Subject: SRX1101612339ID - Date: Sun, 10
May 2009 01:53:16 -0700 From: Microsoft SmartScreen/Phishing Filter Support Thank you for
contacting us about: http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2009-2/20090507-1.htm. We have reviewed
the information you provided regarding this website and removed the incorrect designation. We thank
you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please note that
although we have removed the incorrect designation, it may take up to 24 hours for you to see this
change reflected. In the event that
the incorrect designation persists beyond 24 hours from the receipt of this e-mail message,
please let us know by replying directly to this message. Please do not reply
unless the problem persists. Thank you, Microsoft
SmartScreen/Phishing Filter Support May 11th,
2009 - Next Update Another automated standard reply by Microsoft: Subject: RE: SRX1101578283ID - Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 10:35:47 -0700 From: Microsoft SmartScreen/Phishing Filter Support Thank you for your
recent e-mail. Below are resources that will aid in avoiding this issue in
the future. These include resources on
best practices to avoid false warnings and blocks as well as information
concerning how and why warnings and blocks occur. The Microsoft
Phishing Filter automatically analyzes web sites a user visits only when
enabled. When the filter is ON it will only display a yellow caution if the
page has some of the typical characteristics of phishing Web sites, but it is
not on the list of reported phishing Web sites. When a caution is displayed,
users can report any site that they don’t actually think is a phishing site.
In addition, there’s nothing preventing them from moving forward with a site
they trust, even when a yellow warning comes up. False warnings and
blocks, while rare, do occasionally occur. This is why a key design goal of
the Microsoft Phishing Filter escalation process is to help ensure that we
correct any false warnings in an extremely quick and efficient manner. The
ease of use and quick response times of this feedback process are viewed as
especially important for the service that runs within IE7, Windows Vista,
Windows Live toolbar and the MSN Premium client. Given the scale of the
Microsoft Phishing Filter service, we’ve found that site owners are most
satisfied when we point them to the following sources of information: Regarding how the
filter works, what data sources are used and how a site can be flagged. The
Microsoft Phishing Filter uses a combination of our built-in-filter, an
on-line service and a built in mechanism to report suspected Phishing sites
as well as false warnings. A block experience is typically based on the
various data providers and end-user feedback to the on-line service. More details
about the data providers we work with can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/industry/providers.mspx […] Site owners
are encouraged to use their sites with IE7 and to report false warnings to us
via the built-in, online reporting tool.
At the present time, this is the most expedient way to report false
warnings and phishing sites. […] Thank you, Microsoft Smart
Screen/Phishing Filter Support May 12th, 2009 - Final Message
from Microsoft Finally,
Microsoft responded to my concerns. But as expected, they did not reveal who
of their “data providers” was responsible for the false alert and the
eventual blacklisting. Subject:
RE: SRX1101578283ID - Date: Tue,
12 May 2009 12:47:17 -0700 From: Microsoft
SmartScreen/Phishing Filter Support Thank you for
contacting us, Mr. Ottman. We have taken
appropriate steps to address the warnings for the content pages at http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/. We have also performed
a cursory review of the rest of your site
and are currently unable to reproduce any warnings. A key design goal
of the Microsoft Phishing Filter escalation process is to help ensure that we
correct any false warnings in an extremely quick and efficient manner. When a
caution is displayed, users can report any site that they don’t actually
think is a phishing site. However, there is nothing preventing them from
moving forward with a site they trust, even when a yellow warning is present. If you are
experiencing a systemic issue of false warnings affecting multiple sites,
please reply to this message with a list of the affected URLs. We will be
able to address these as a group. We appreciate your
interest in the functionality of the Microsoft Phishing Filter. However, we
are not able to provide any further information outside of what has been sent
in our previous messages. Thank you, Microsoft Smart
Screen/Phishing Filter Support |
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