back to article 'Russian spy' was MS software tester

The alleged "12th man" in the Russian spy ring broken up by the FBI earlier this month was a software tester at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters. Alexey Karetnikov, 23, was deported without court proceedings yesterday after admitting he was in the US in violation of immigration law, according to the Department of Homeland …

COMMENTS

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  1. M7S
    Coat

    "After 9 months he'd obtained no information" according to the FBI

    leaving his use of MS software aside, what about as a spy?

  2. Ken 16 Silver badge
    Pirate

    Sabotage?

    Is that why Vista sucked baboon butt?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      love it

      How people are quick to troll without even reading the report, 9 months he has been in the country

  3. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Stop

    @M7S

    Quoting a 'lady' in the 1960s UK spy debacle

    'He would say that, wouldn't he?'

  4. Mystic Megabyte
    Joke

    Maybe..

    ..buried in the depths of Vista is an Easter Egg. A Fabergé egg!

    <tumbleweed>

    .

    .

    .

    </tumbleweed>

  5. david wilson

    Deep, DEEP undercover

    >>"According to a Facebook page matching Karetnikov's biography, before Microsoft he worked for "Neobit". According to Bloomberg, a St Petersburg company called "OOO NeoBIT" lists Karetnikov's university and the Russia's domestic spy agency, the FSB, as partners."

    So what made people suspicious about him then?

    Was it the anarchist's black cape, or the way he ended each sentence 'Bwahaha!"

  6. Gene Cash Silver badge
    Go

    Set the Russians back 15 years...

    Give them the MS Vista source code...

    1. Daniel 1

      They've already got the Windows 7 souce code, mate

      Complete deal, all source code, and the rights to share it, and conclusions about it, with other security bodies, outside the FSB:

      http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/security/2010/07/08/microsoft-opens-source-code-to-russian-secret-service-40089481/

      They may have got hold of Vista as well, or they may have skip-released it, but they did the same thing with Windows XP, 8 years ago. (It can be assumed that Microsoft is as forthcoming with the secret services of more overtly-friendly governments, but it is somewhat telling that we know much less about those deals, than we do about deals with the FSB.)

      ...So, whatever this lad was up to, it certainly hadn't anything to do with stealing Microsoft source code.

  7. yossarianuk
    Gates Horns

    Microsoft - supporting the cancerous commies

    Giving state secrets away - how very un-American

    http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/8374

    Here is one reason why no respect should be shown to Mr sweaty fail.

    2 image searches:-

    1: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=steve%20ballmer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

    2. http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=linus+torvalds&aq=0&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=Linus+to&gs_rfai=

  8. Richard Scratcher
    FAIL

    Did no one bother to read his I-94W?

    Question C:

    "Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage or in terrorist activities…" [_]YES [_]NO

    Just plain lazy!

  9. SMFSubtlety
    Big Brother

    12 people ejected eh...?

    they weren't all selected as jurors in a case against some high powered senator were they?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Mystery solved!

    "The alleged "12th man" in the Russian spy ring broken up by the FBI earlier this month was a software tester at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters."

    No wonder their software quality is f*cking atrocious! Their testers spend all their time spying when they should be working.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      On the contrary...

      Standard fifth-column technique. Reduce the productivity of the enemy. Annoy him, tie him up with silly details and problems, sap his morale, use up his energy.

      Doesn't Windows fits the bill exactly? Could it all have been *intentional*?

      Pass my coat: it's the one with the International Linux Passport in the pocket!

  11. ratfox
    WTF?

    Hang on...

    How do they know he was a spy? The fact that he was a Russian, and illegally in the US?

    If so, I believe the US have a very large number of spies in their country... mostly, Mexican spies.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm FREEEE

    So the Russians can go over to America and commit crimes on American soil and they get..... Sent back to Russia without so much as an anal probing from bubba?

    Yet Gary McKinnon did some immature "hacking" from British soil and they want to have him extradited then hung drawn and quartered.

    Go Figure Politics huh. 1 rule for some and a completely different rule for others.

  13. Paul Landon
    Coat

    Spy Swap for McKinnon

    Can't the British Govt arrange a spy swap for McKinnon?

    I'll get my cape.

  14. Ascylto
    Alien

    So ...

    He worked for Microsoft AND wore an orange sweater?

    Surely he deserved the death penalty in the USA (for bad taste if nothing else)?

  15. Mark 65
    WTF?

    Bail

    "Christopher Metsos, the "11th man", was arrested in Cyprus but was given bail and promptly absconded."

    I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but who gives bail to an international spy? Why would you?

    Here's hoping they were tailing him.

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