Microsoft relations with governments and intelligence agencies of the world

Main article about the company: Microsoft

2023

Microsoft will pay a fine for processing children's data without parental consent

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) demanded that Microsoft pay $20 million for violating the law on the protection of children's privacy on the Internet (COPPA). According to the law, online services used by children under 13 are required to notify parents that they collect personal data, as well as receive consent from them. This was reported on June 10, 2023 in the press service of the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Anton Nemkin.

So, the Xbox service, which belongs to Microsoft, however, not only without fail required everyone who started an account there to indicate the name, age and email, but also stored the data of even those users who are not 13 years old, the FTC noted.

Now Microsoft, in addition to monetary recovery, will be obliged to carry out increased work towards strengthening the protection of confidential data of young users. In particular, the company will be obliged to inform parents about the need to create a separate account for children in order to protect their personal data, as well as obtain consent from them regarding accounts created before May 2021, if their owner is still not of age.

The company must also create and maintain all systems that are responsible for deleting, within two weeks, all data of children transferred for parental consent, and in general all data that have ceased to serve the purpose for which they were collected.

No matter how large and well-known the corporation is, it should not forget that violating the privacy of personal users is a completely unacceptable and punishable thing. In the context of blocking foreign social networks, which, as time has shown, were reliable suppliers of personal information of Russians for special services abroad, they had no choice but to initiate large-scale leaks of such information through hackers. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that the more information you trust about yourself to this or that service, the more you put yourself at risk. Parents of minor children who can uncontrollably distribute their data on the network should be especially careful, while for hackers they are excellent prey, "said Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications.

Negligible fine in the United States for the supply of software to Russia, Cuba, Iran and Syria in violation of sanctions

in Microsoft April 2023, she agreed to pay more than $3.3 million in cumulative civil fines in favor of BIS and OFAC: Ministry of Finance the United States reached an agreement with the company on cases of violation of sanctions against,, and Russia Cubes. Iran Syria

From July 2012 to April 2019, Microsoft sold software licenses and provided its services to those involved in the sanctions lists in these countries. In total, Washington recorded 1.3 thousand cases of violation of sanctions. The total amount of licenses sold to sub-sanctions amounted to $12 million.

If it were not the American company that violated the sanctions, the fine would be an order of magnitude higher. BNP Paribas paid $9 billion for violating the US sanctions regime against Sudan, Iran and Cuba.

2022: Russian Foreign Ministry: Microsoft has long ceased to be a private company and acts on the instructions of US law enforcement agencies

At the end of August 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation announced Microsoft's long-standing cooperation with the US authorities. So the department reacted to the materials of the company, which says that a certain "hacker group Seaborgium Haili Likes acts in the state interests of Russia."

{{quote 'You don't need the company Microsoft to come up with any Russian threats, traces, Russian hackers, and so on. You yourself in the United States have many structures and people who deal with you, American corporations, directly lead. You have long ceased to be private business, private companies, you have long acted at the behest RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY Maria Zakharova of American law enforcement agencies, - said an official representative at a briefing on August 31, 2022 (quote from). TASS }}

The diplomat noted that Microsoft accuses Russia of malicious activities in the field of using information and communication technologies. The rationale for this is a vague scheme of stealing accounts in order to promote, as they say in the company, Russian propaganda in NATO countries, she stressed.

According to her, it is through the software developments of this corporation that "couch hackers," including the so-called IT army of Ukraine, etc. are also involved in attacks on Russia. Zakharova pointed out that Moscow, unlike Washington and its allies, has consistently defended the principles of a peaceful, safe and stable Internet environment in the international arena.

Шаблон:Quote 'Their implementation should be dealt with only by competent departments through mechanisms of interstate cooperation, which are developed bilaterally, as well as at the site of authorized bodies under the auspices of the UN, she added. In July 2022, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said that Microsoft seeks to deprive Ukraine of "digital sovereignty." According to him, the company is fulfilling the order of the Pentagon and special services to take full control of the entire information infrastructure of Ukraine.^[1]

2021

Meeting between Microsoft President and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

In September 2021, a meeting of the head of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Microsoft President Brad Smith, took place in New York. Some details of this event were told in the press service of the office of the Ukrainian leader.

We are interested in further expanding the presence of Microsoft Corporation in Ukraine and deepening cooperation in the context of the digital transformation of our country, "Vladimir Zelensky emphasized.

The head of Ukraine informed about the country's achievements in terms of digital transformation and prospects for the development of the national information technology market. It was noted that by September 2021, Ukraine is creating one of the best tax and legal regimes for IT companies. The interlocutors discussed ways to strengthen partnership with Microsoft and implement joint projects.

Special attention during the meeting was paid to the construction of infrastructure for cloud services in Ukraine.

We are building a digital state, and it is very important for us that the data of Ukrainians are stored on cloud services in Ukraine, - said the president of the country.

The head of state invited Microsoft to consider opportunities for creating an infrastructure for the Azure data center in Ukraine.

In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Brad Smith discussed the involvement of Microsoft in the development of an electronic voting system in elections, as well as products using artificial intelligence technologies.

The parties also touched upon issues of establishing interaction in the development of anti-corruption programs for state authorities in Ukraine, countering disinformation and cybersecurity.

The head of state invited the President of Microsoft to visit Ukraine at a convenient time for him. The president of the IT corporation accepted the offer and expressed his readiness to come.^[2]

Spending on lobbying interests in the EU - €5.25 million

At the end of August 2021, the costs of leading IT companies to lobby their interests in the European Union became known. Microsoft spends about €5.25 million annually. Read more here.

Investing $30 billion in US cybersecurity after meeting with Biden

At the end of August 2021 Google Microsoft , they announced that they would invest a total of $30 billion in development cyber security USA over the next five years. The government has begun to engage technology companies even more actively in the work to address the threats facing the country due to a series of complex malicious cyber actions and attacks aimed at important infrastructure in the country.

The cybersecurity meeting at the White House was attended by executives from companies in the fields of, formations, power engineering specialists finance, insurance and technology, including,,, Amazon Apple Bank of America Code.org, Girls Who Code,,,, and Google IBM JPMorgan Chase Microsoft Vantage Group.

Following this meeting, the U.S. government on August 25, 2021 announced a collaboration between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and industry partners to develop a new framework, doing so to improve the security and integrity of the technology supply chain as a whole, and plans to expand the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative to secure natural gas pipelines.

Large IT companies have committed to the following initiatives:

1. Microsoft will invest $20 billion over the next five years to develop advanced security solutions, as well as allocate $150 million for technical services to help federal, state and local authorities improve security.

2. Google is investing more than $10 billion to strengthen cybersecurity, including expanding zero-trust programs, helping secure the software supply chain, and strengthening open source security.

3. Apple will work with more than 9,000 of its suppliers to achieve massive multi-factor authentication, vulnerability remediation, event logging and security training.

4. IBM will train 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills over the next three years and will partner with 20 colleges and universities to create a more diverse cyber working force.

5. Amazon will provide all Amazon Web Services account holders with a multifactor authentication device to protect against phishing and password theft at no additional cost.^[3]

Microsoft openly accused the Russian Federation of attacks on US federal departments

On February 24, 2021, it became known about Microsoft 's statement that it had "solid evidence" of Russia's involvement in the sensational wave of cyber attacks on at least nine US federal departments and dozens of private companies. Read more here.

2020: Software development for 5G equipment under the control of the American government

On February 4, 2020, it became known that technology and telecommunications companies, including Microsoft, Dell and AT&T, are developing software for 5G equipment under the control of the American government. Through this work, the White House expects to weaken Huawei's leading position in this market. Read more here.

2019: Brazil limits government spending on Microsoft software

In mid-October 2019, the Brazilian government limited government spending on software and services provided by Microsoft. This will give advantages to the competitors of the American corporation, but not for long.

The Secretariat of Digital Management (SGD) of the Brazilian Ministry of Economy has published a list with the maximum prices that can be paid for Microsoft software and services.

The new rules apply to all 217 central government departments and government agencies and have already entered into force. The reason for the introduction of such restrictions was exorbitant costs - it is known that the Brazilian government's spending on Microsoft software in the period from 2012 to 2018 reached 1 billion reais ($246 million), and now government agencies intend to reduce them by at least 35%.

The Brazilian government warns that it intends to subsequently take the same approach in relations with other major software vendors, including IBM, Oracle, Red Hat and VMware.

The main goal is to save costs and standardise and simplify the procurement process for central government, according to the SGD statement. Prices will be set either through agreements with suppliers or unilaterally by the government. So far, the amounts indicated by the government have been determined in accordance with the lowest price paid by Microsoft between 2017 and 2019 for each of the listed services. Other suppliers are invited to discuss the new policy before the end of 2019, after which similar lists will be published for them.

Brazil is not the first country to decide to impose such restrictions. For example, in Australia, restrictions on the cost of IT contracts have been applied since 2017. Contract durations have also been reduced so the Australian Government can introduce innovative technology and services from other suppliers in time.^[4]

2018

Lobbying costs in the United States of $9.5 million

At the end of January 2019, a US federal lobbying report was issued, according to which in 2018 the five largest technology companies in the country spent $64.3 million on lobbying government officials. Microsoft's spending for these purposes amounted to $9.5 million. Read more here.

How Microsoft makes tens of millions of dollars from bribes. Scheme

In August 2018, it became known about a corruption scheme in which Microsoft was involved in Hungary. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigating. 

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing knowledgeable sources, in Hungary Microsoft sold software to government agencies through intermediaries. The latter received software products, including the Microsoft Office package, at a big discount, and then resold it to government agencies at full price or close to it. 

Such a scheme, which operated from 2013 to 2014, was nothing more than bribery of officials, only Microsoft did it not directly, but through partners. Investigators suspected that the intermediaries used the resulting difference to pay bribes and kickbacks to government workers.

The publication received a comment from Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard. He said that Microsoft promptly began internal proceedings as soon as it learned about possible offenses in Hungary.

We are committed to the ethical noms of doing business and will not make concessions to damage these standards, "he said.

The company announced cooperation with the US Department of Justice and the SEC in this investigation, and also announced the dismissal of four employees of its representative office in Hungary, including the head of the office, Istvan Papp, who violated Microsoft's policy. In addition, the software giant has torn up partnership agreements with four firms in that country and has placed more emphasis on transparency when providing discounts.

WSJ journalists contacted Istvan Papp via WhatsApp and he said in a short message that he was a "respected member" of the Microsoft family and received positive feedback from management. He refrained from further comment.

According to the Microsoft newspaper in 2012, an attempt was made to dissuade the Hungarian government from using free text editors and spreadsheets from competitors. In November 2012, the then chief operating officer of the company, Kevin Turner, met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who brought with him a group of owners of small companies. 

How that meeting ended is not specified, but it is known that over the next two years Microsoft annually sold software worth $30 million to such companies, sometimes with discounts that could reach 30%. At the same time, WSJ notes that it is not yet possible to determine which part of these sales was tested.

According to one of the interlocutors, the discounts were agreed with sales managers working outside Hungary, since Hungarian employees cheated and were convicted of indicating false information. At the same time, not all the discounts that Microsoft provided ultimately reached government customers who bought software from intermediary firms, WSJ sources say.

The publication notes that such transactions, which became the subject of an anti-corruption investigation, contributed to the growth of Microsoft sales and the strengthening of the status of the Hungarian division. In a press release dated June 2015, Microsoft called this office "the most effective" daughter "among representative offices of this size" in the five previous years. Microsoft's representative office in Hungary was opened in 2013.

Microsoft is not the first to be suspected of kickbacks and bribery of officials. In 2013, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the American authorities are studying relations with the company's partners in China, Romania, Italy, Russia and Pakistan amid allegations that these intermediaries may have participated in corruption schemes. 

According to the WSJ, in August 2018, the SEC is checking for alleged anti-competitive behavior of Microsoft related to patents in the Czech Republic. The company said it was aware of and facilitating the investigation. What exactly the Microsoft is suspected of is not specified.

In September 2018, a trial will take place in Romania, in which the former head of the local representative office of Microsoft, Kalin Tatomir (Călin Tatomir), is accused of laundering and involvement in the fact that officials abused their official position when concluding contracts with the company.

Prosecutors say Tatomir, using corruption schemes, assisted intermediaries in selling software to Microsoft so the government would gain an "unreasonable advantage." At the same time, the corporation itself is not accused of any violations.

US authorities have broad competence to investigate and prosecute if allegations of bribery and corruption abroad are received. They have such powers under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This law prohibits companies from paying bribes for contracting and business development.

Proceedings based on complaints from informants from within the company are a common case, often companies themselves report possible violations. Many investigations by regulators find nothing illegal after scrutiny.^[5]

Israel ditches Microsoft software as product costs double

In August 2018, the Israeli government announced the termination of a licensing agreement with Microsoft, as the new conditions involve doubling the cost of the company's products. Read more here.

Microsoft accused Russia of interfering in the upcoming US elections

On August 20, 2018, Microsoft accused Russia of interfering in the US congressional elections to be held in November. According to the company, hackers associated with the Russian authorities created false sites that are potentially interesting to American politicians. Read more here.

2017: Record number of requests from US intelligence agencies

On April 13, 2017, Microsoft announced that it had received a record number of requests from the US authorities to provide user data for the company's products.

American companies have the right to disclose only the number of requests received from law enforcement agencies. Moreover, you can specify only an approximate range, and not an exact indicator. It is prohibited to provide detailed statistics on applications by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

According to Reuters, citing data released by Microsoft, in the first half of 2016, the company received from the special services from 1000 to 1,500 requests for the transfer of user content, while according to the results of each half of 2015, no more than 500 applications were recorded.

Thus, the number of requests doubled and turned out to be a record for the entire time Microsoft has shared such information (since 2011).

According to the results of January-June 2016, the US authorities made requests in accordance with the FISA law in relation to 17,500 - 18,000 user accounts of Microsoft products against 12,000 - 12,500 for the same period of the previous year.

The amount of espionage powers granted to US intelligence services under the Foreign Intelligence Services Control Act is being actively discussed after Donald Trump became president.

Earlier in April 2017, it became known that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation received a FISA warrant to spy on the contacts of Carter Page, a former foreign relations adviser to the campaign headquarters of Donald Trump. Intelligence agencies are probing Page as part of an investigation into the Trump presidential campaign's suspected ties to Russia.^[6]

2016

Court allows Microsoft to deny US authorities access to mail of its customers

According to the verdict of the New York State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the company is not required to provide access to the contents of electronic mailboxes stored on a server in Ireland. According to Reuters, the court upheld the Micro soft 's complaint, finding the verdict issued in 2014 unlawful. Then the American corporation was obliged to fulfill official requests for the provision of personal data of customers, otherwise the authorities had the right to apply the punishment^[7].

Launch of the Software Check Center for bookmarks for control by Latin American governments

On October 19, 2016 Microsoft , it opened a computer security center, whose tasks included preventing cyber piracy and providing security guarantees software to the company's customers.

The institution, which Microsoft called the Transparency Center, is open in Brazil. There, experts representing the interests of the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean will be able to view the source code of the products and check it for bookmarks. Microsoft did not specify how deep the code analysis will be to detect vulnerabilities.

The center is aimed at showing that there are no traps, this is a good step, the Brazilian government told Reuters on the basis of anonymity.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President Tony Towns-Whitley emphasized the importance of developing a transparent and trusting relationship with the authorities, which the company helps in terms of technology and data protection on the Internet. The world is experiencing a new technological revolution, the engine of which is clouds, and the fuel is data, she continues. At the same time, the clouds must be reliable and ensure that the data stored in them is not compromised. Microsoft will monitor this with the help of Transparency Centers, similar to those opened in Brazil, Towns-Wheatley added.

The event dedicated to the opening of this center was attended by the head of the lower house of the Brazilian Congress, Rodrigo Maia. According to him, the Microsoft initiative will improve control over public Internet services and provide users with more security guarantees.

Microsoft and other IT companies began to suspect of spying on their users after former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden released classified documents that reported mass surveillance organized by the US government with the direct participation of local hardware and software manufacturers.^[8]

2015

Disclosure of user data at the request of the authorities

On October 14, 2015 Microsoft , it published a new edition of a regular report in which the company talks about requests from the authorities to provide and delete user data. It turned out that China most often they ask the software giant to remove content from their services.

According to the published data, in the first half of 2015, Microsoft received 186 requests from governments of various countries to remove information from its Bing search engine, MSN portal and other Internet projects. The Celestial Empire accounted for 165 applications, which is almost eight times more than all other countries combined. For comparison, in the United States, Microsoft recorded only 11 instructions for excluding data from its websites (mainly from the Bing search engine), in Germany - only five.

According to Microsoft Deputy General Counsel John Frank, the company seeks to follow local and intellectual property laws while adhering to the principles of transparency and freedom of speech.

If the number of requests for the removal of information is measured in dozens, then in the case of requirements for the provision of personal data, which come from law enforcement agencies and special services, we are talking about tens of thousands. So, in January-June 2015, Microsoft received 35,228 such applications against 31,002 in the second half of 2014.

In the first half of 2015, the American corporation rejected 12.4% of such requests due to their illegality, according to Microsoft. In the first six months of 2014, the percentage of claims rejected by the IT giant was 5.9%.

The company says that most often the authorities want to get the so-called basic information about the user, for example, his name, surname or IP address, less often - e-mail correspondence and uploaded photos.^[9]

Promise to inform clients about the transfer of their data to special services

On February 16, 2015, Microsoft announced support for a new standard to protect users' personal data in cloud services. Thus, the American corporation pledged not to use the personal information of its customers for advertising purposes and warn them about requests related to the transfer of information to law enforcement agencies.^[10]

Microsoft will follow ISO/IEC 27018, approved in 2014 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). This set of requirements contains restrictions and rules that a cloud service provider that processes user information must follow.

Microsoft pledged to inform clients about the transfer of their data to special services

According to Microsoft, the British Standards Institute has already confirmed that ISO/IEC 27018 complies with Microsoft Azure, Office 365  and Dynamics CRM Online services. A similar cloud privacy certificate for Microsoft's Intune product was issued by Bureau Veritas.

Customers of Microsoft and other American companies took care of privacy issues after former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden spoke about illegal surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency via the Internet, as well as equipment and software from local manufacturers. By moving to a new standard for protecting personal data in the cloud, Microsoft hopes to strengthen user confidence in itself.

In accordance with the terms of ISO/IEC 27018, Microsoft will have to inform corporate customers about requests to transfer their confidential data to the authorities. According to Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, the new standard ensures that the company's customers will always know where their data is and which third parties require access to it.

"In addition, if there was unauthorized access to personal information, technological equipment or capacity, resulting in the loss, disclosure or change of this data, we will let you know," Smith wrote in a blog post on Microsoft's website.

2014: Refusal to transfer data from servers in Europe to US authorities

In early December 2014, Microsoft began appealing a court decision on the need to provide US law enforcement agencies with data from servers located in Europe.^[11]

In July 2014, a Manhattan court ruled that the Microsoft was obliged, in the interests of the investigation, to disclose the electronic correspondence of some users stored in the company's mail hosting in the Irish data center. The software giant deemed the claim illegal because European assets are not in jurisdiction. USA

With the support of a number of international IT companies Microsoft, the remoteness to freeze the decision, but at the end of August 2014, prosecutors convinced the court of the need for the company to comply with the court decision.

Microsoft considers it illegal to apply a warrant of national importance to obtain data stored abroad

On December 8, 2014, Microsoft appealed to the New York Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (US Second Circuit Court of Appeals), where it asks Themis ministers to cancel the lower court order.

Microsoft's appeal says that direct or indirect interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country risks serious consequences for foreign policy, and also threatens the confidentiality of US citizens.

"The

data transfer required of us can endanger all our private digital information: not only e-mail letters, but also everything else that we store in the so-called" cloud, "which is a cache of classified personal information protected by the constitutional rights of citizens to privacy," Microsoft

said.

According to Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, issuing correspondence to the authorities could set a dangerous precedent, and other countries will begin to make similar demands.

Microsoft is confident that the use of a warrant of national importance violates the sovereignty of Ireland, so the American authorities need to conclude an interstate agreement with a European country in order to obtain the data they want.

2013: EU Commission completes investigation into Internet Explorer imposition

The Antimonopoly Commission of the European Union has completed an investigation into Microsoft in the case of the imposition of the Internet Explorer web browser (browser) and is now preparing an official charge, Reuters reported on September 27.

If Microsoft's guilt is proven, the company faces an impressive fine of 10% of the company's profit for fiscal 2012, which is about $7.4 billion.

Antitrust experts believe the Microsoft case will be a good example for other companies.

"The fear of a large fine will inhibit companies in the desire to put the rest of the market participants in unequal conditions," said Rachel Buckler, an expert in the field of antimonopoly law at Nabaro.

The share of Internet Explorer (browser) has almost halved since 2008 to 29%. Basically, former browser clients began to use Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox - 29.3% and 30.3% market share, respectively.

Microsoft pleaded guilty to violating antitrust laws in July 2012 and assured regulators of correcting that error. The company proposed over the next 15 months to provide a choice of web browser to users, in addition to the mandatory warning about which browser is installed on the PC.

If the regulator decides to impose a fine on Microsoft, it will be the largest fine in the history of the IT industry. Now the record for penalties in the field of antitrust law is held by the manufacturer of microchips Intel, which in 2009 received claims in the amount of 1.06 billion euros ($1.36 billion), which amounted to 4.8% of its revenue for the 2008 fiscal year.

2012: US tax evasion charge

and Microsoft Hewlett-Packard use "loopholes and tricks" to evade taxes USA in on amounts measured in millions. the Americandollars This was stated by Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the subcommittee on the investigation of the Senate National Security Committee and the Committee on Government Affairs.

According to him, Microsoft releases a disproportionate amount of revenue to subsidiaries with various tax breaks, and HP, in turn, constantly uses short-term loans from its subsidiaries abroad, which avoids tax on funds returning to the United States. "It is highly doubtful that some of these practices do not conflict with current tax laws," democrat Lyovin said at a committee hearing.

Interestingly, in his opinion, Microsoft and HP are not the only ones who evade taxes in the United States in this way, but the committee's special investigation concerned the two companies themselves. The activities of Microsoft and HP raise "serious questions," he concluded.

Many multinational corporations located in the United States "use a comprehensive structure, dubious transactions and legal fiction to take their profits abroad, avoiding taxes that could maintain our security, stability and productivity," said Karl Levin during the hearing.

At the same time, representatives of vendors have already made a statement that companies pay taxes in full accordance with US law. At the same time, Republican Senator Tom Coburn said that there is nothing criminal in the use of tax loopholes. He believes that they are completely legal, as they rely on the legislative framework created by the US Congress. He also called on Congress to radically revise and simplify the tax code.

Levin also detailed the schemes used by the IT giants. So, Microsoft charged three of its foreign divisions high license fees for the sale of its own products. In 2011, two such units in Ireland and Singapore with low tax jurisdiction paid about $4 billion for such licenses, and then sold products worth $12 billion, although US tax law requires fair prices for asset transfers. Thus, Microsoft withdrew about $8 billion outside the US tax jurisdiction, Levin said.

In a similar way, Microsoft sold licenses to its division in Puerto Rico, in 2011, 47% of the corporation's sales in the United States were withdrawn in Puerto Rico, the senator said. In 2011, Microsoft allocated about 55% of its revenue to units in Ireland, Singapore and Puerto Rico, said Stephen Shay, a Harvard professor of tax law. Shai and two other experts were brought in to investigate Microsoft and HP.

HP used an excellent mechanism at the same time, Levin explained. Under U.S. tax law, companies are required to pay taxes on revenue abroad that has been transferred to the U.S., but the law makes an exception for short-term loans. In recent years, HP units in Belgium and the Cayman Islands have provided a steady stream of such loans to the head office to pay for various expenses, including wages for U.S. workers and dividend payments. In 2011, HP's spending on wage payments in the United States amounted to $10.3 billion.

2004: €497 million fine decided by the European Commission

In March 2004, a court ordered Microsoft to pay a fine of €497 million, as well as provide competitors with the source code of the server OS. Microsoft paid a fine, however, according to the EC, the company did not provide accurate and reliable information regarding the disclosure of the source code. As a result, on July 12, 2006, EU antitrust regulators decided to impose a fine on Microsoft in the amount of €280.5 million ($357 million) for failure to comply with a 2004 court decision. In response, the corporation filed a lawsuit against the European Commission, according to which it demanded to declare illegal the requirement to provide competitors with the source code of the server OS and pay a fine due to abuse of dominant position in the European market. However, Microsoft's lawsuit was dismissed by the European Court of First Instance on September 17, 2007.

2002: Court finds Microsoft guilty of monopoly on US OS market

Microsoft was often at the epicenter of antitrust litigation. So, in 2002, the court found Microsoft guilty of abusing its monopoly position in the market of operating systems and web browsers at the suit of the US Department of Justice.

As part of an out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit, the company, state attorneys general and the Department of Justice signed an agreement to prevent further abuse by Microsoft. Although the prosecutors general demanded that the agreement be valid for 10 years, the judge considered 5 years sufficient.

The agreement expired in November 2007. Attorneys general of ten US states (the so-called California and New York Groups) requested the court to extend Microsoft's surveillance for another five years - until November 12, 2012, however, the Justice Department filed its motion that it was not necessary. As a result, the US Federal Court decided to extend the antitrust supervision of Microsoft for only two years - until November 12, 2009. At the same time, the reception of complaints in the antitrust case of 2002 stopped, since Microsoft, according to the court, fulfilled the bulk of the requirements of the antitrust organization.

According to the Department of Justice and the US Attorney General's Office, Microsoft has agreed to a compromise - competitors of the software giant can run their software based on Windows Vista.

See also

• Google's relationship with governments and intelligence agencies around the world

Notes