RIYADH, 23 December 2002 — Microsoft Corp. strongly denied that it has designed and manufactured a special program for Israel to enable it to spy on Arab Internet websites, the multinational’s Riyadh office said yesterday.
“Microsoft does not develop software programs especially for military purposes, but at the same time has no restrictions for its use in this field,” Marketing Manager of Microsoft Arabia, Fahd Al-Sudairi, said in a statement.
He said a report that was posted on an Arab website implicating the company was “fabricated and entirely baseless.”
The report said that Israel has been tracing thousands of Arab Internet websites thanks to special software from Microsoft.
There are some 50 million users of Microsoft products in the Middle East and North Africa.
Microsoft has 29 offices in the region which employ 700 locals supported by 650 dealers, Sudairi said. (AFP)
