Earlier this year, Tik-Tok’s battle with United States regulators made headlines—was Tik-Tok gathering up sensitive data about American young people on behalf of the Chinese government? But teenagers are not the only ones under threat. Those of us using Microsoft products in business and government settings must wake up to the company’s troubling cooperation with America’s great adversary, China.
Microsoft has long been a proud example of American technological ingenuity. To most of us, Microsoft is as American as apple pie. However, for more than 20 years, the tech giant has been expanding its presence deeper into the Chinese market. Not only does the company sell roughly $2 billion worth of its software products in China every year, but a significant percentage of their workforce, mostly software engineers, now work inside the borders of the People’s Republic of China.
If you’ve been following the news in recent years, you already know what this means: Chinese law requires foreign tech companies who wish to operate in the country to hand over critical intellectual property, including source code and backdoor access, to the Chinese government.
Most of the press coverage has focused on how this allows Chinese companies to make knock off versions of American-made technology and undercut American businesses, but there is a deeper, far more disturbing truth: It also jeopardizes the security of these software products, so many of which our corporations and government agencies rely on.
As far back as 2003, Microsoft has given the Chinese government access to the Windows operating system source code. Since then, Microsoft has gone on to sell more than 70 software products in China, including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Azure, and many more. We know that China now has access to the digital blueprints for all of these products, as providing them is a prerequisite for selling software in the country.
China also requires U.S. tech companies like Microsoft to provide state regulators with advance warning of vulnerabilities (in other words, hacking opportunities in their source code) evenbefore alerting U.S. regulators. One would expect this nefarious practice to lead to Chinese cyber-attacks against the Windows computer systems used by the U.S. government; in fact, as Microsoft has openly admitted, it already has.
Alarms have been raised on China’s access to emerging AI source code in that they have access to OpenAI’s cutting edge language models, and that these tech blueprints are likely in the hands of Chinese Communist Party intelligence agencies. As many raise concerns about the ethical hazards posed by AI technology, it is chilling to consider what the Chinese government may do with such capabilities.
There’s no question that China is a tantalizing market opportunity for ambitious tech corporations like Microsoft. But we live in a deeply interconnected world. Allowing the People’s Republic of China to have access to and sway over Microsoft’s cornerstone software products not only jeopardizes the civil rights of Chinese citizens, it puts U.S. users at risk. And if you pull the thread further, you realize that even if you don’t use Microsoft products personally, your government agencies, military, banks, and biggest corporations all do. So, no matter who you are, Microsoft’s acquiescence to China’s strong-arming has put all of us in jeopardy.
The recent election results will bring significant changes to Washington, DC. A new president and new leadership in the U.S. Senate have a lot to accomplish. Cybersecurity should be near the top of their “to do list.” As America’s adversaries grow bolder in their pursuit of global power, the incoming administration must push back firmly against these authoritarian regimes. Among their first order of business must be addressing the threats posed by these technological vulnerabilities.
Join me in demanding that Microsoft be held accountable for this disturbing breach of public trust. As Americans, it is incumbent upon us to demand Microsoft put the national interests of its own country first. Sadly, as they have proven over decades, they will not do this on their own.
Clay Percle served in the U.S. Air Force from 1999 to 2019 as an F-15C and F-22 pilot and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. He currently serves as a pilot for a major airline and is the founder and president of Gray Cloak Aerospace. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and children.
