(LifeSiteNews) — You are probably wondering how I can make a statement so bold as to say that Microsoft and the state are working hand-in-hand to violate your human rights. My hope is that you will understand how I came to that conclusion by the time you finish reading.
In order to understand just how bad things have gotten in regards to your human rights, and the state-sanctioned violations of those rights, I have to draw you into some current events in the video game industry. Full disclosure: I am a game collector. I have over 5,000 to 6,000 video games, depending on how you count them, and games are what drew me into my IT career. I wanted to make Christ-centered games, so I stay up-to-date on current events in that industry.
On August 18, an individual by the name of CyberLeek started leaking unreleased information on the upcoming game “Grand Theft Auto VI” (GTA6). GTA6 is produced by RockStar Games (RockStar) and published by Take-Two Interactive (Take2). These leaks were particularly irritating for Take2, as fans saw them to be exposing Take2’s over-hyping of GTA6, that the “finished” product was not going to be so “grand” as they had been led to believe. Take2’s stock took a $2.8 billion tumble as a result. Needless to say, Take2 was a tiny bit miffed. In fact, one individual on August 24 claimed on X that Take2 sent a couple “goons,” GTA-style, to his house to threaten him.
“It’s hard to believe you just guessed that”
A private investigator working for Take-Two aggressively confronts the Redditor who accurately predicted the August 18th CyberLeek leak. Skeptical that such a detail could be sheer luck, the investigator pressures the user to turn…
— GTA 6 Media (@GTAVIMedia) August 24, 2026
Many people were skeptical of the legitimacy of the claim, even though others said the story was corroborated. It just seemed too invasive, after all. One thing I didn’t notice in the discussions, though, was that no one seemed to be asking, “If the individual’s claims of intimidation are true, how did these ‘P.I.’ manage to locate this user?”
It didn’t take long for my question to be answered. On August 25, reports of Take2’s action on August 20 hadn’t been widely known, but on that day Take2 filed a subpoena in New York state demanding that Microsoft and Discord hand over private user and customer information to them by no later than September 4 so they could “fish” for Cyberleek. The judge approved that intrusion into hundreds, maybe even thousands, of users’ private information by an unaccountable private corporation with no law enforcement authority in just 24 hours.
The scope of what Take-Two wants is pretty sweeping. The subpoena filed against Microsoft asks for all internal business and investigative records related to Microsoft’s own investigation of the CyberLeek persona. That includes:
- Account IDs and registration emails tied to the persona
- Registration and last-login IP addresses
- Phone numbers and device identifiers (including MachineGuid/MSA codes)
- Linked Xbox and Google accounts
- Any OneDrive content referencing GTA, Rockstar, or CyberLeek
- Device and telemetry records linked to leaked file artifacts
Gamers are harshly divided, since most gamers, particularly male ones, have been taking unfounded flack from the culture wars for decades, and many see CyberLeek as a white hat hacker and “Robin Hood” archetype taking from the corrupt and giving to the marginalized — even more so since CyberLeek released three “commandments” for the gaming industry:
Wherever you may stand on the CyberLeek issue, if you are not alarmed yet, you should be. Here’s why…
There are two highly concerning things in the Take2 subpoena request: first, Microsoft is doing its own investigation as though it is law unto itself, and second, Microsoft has “MachineGUID/MSA codes,” also known as a “Global Device Identifier” (GDID).
Most of you have probably not heard of a GDID or what they do, but Microsoft has been secretly tagging your private, personal computer with a fingerprint that only they were aware of until recently, when the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was “assisted” by Microsoft in extraditing a ransomware hacker. With a GDID they are able to associate an IP address with the computer, and with the IP they can identify your location (with reasonable certainty) and also know exactly what that IP is doing at any given time. This is why they want data centers, but that is another article for another time.
The state knows they can’t do what Microsoft does. Besides violating your God-given right to privacy and personal property, Microsoft is also violating your Fourth Amendment and Section 8 rights. The state knows this, but they allow it to happen because they know Microsoft will just give the info to them whenever they ask, and in return they will look the other way. And now it is obvious that random video game companies can also have access to your stolen private information because Microsoft is operating as the “long arm” of the law.
Microsoft’s GDID isn’t the only unlawful data collection they have implemented. They also created Recall, Microsoft’s spy software … spyware … that takes photo captures of your computer’s screen every three seconds and feeds it to their AI. Originally Microsoft attempted to force this “feature” on every Windows 11 operating system, but they realized they let the mask slip. Instead they made it a default need to “opt out” feature, allegedly only on AI-enabled PCs. (Remember PC used to stand for personal computer?) But don’t worry, Microsoft totally isn’t lying when they say that it is “completely private” and no one has access to it. It is just “anonymous” data sent back to their government-sanctioned massive data centers across North America. Data centers, mind you, that provide zero good to the public interest, but massive good for human rights-violating surveillance states, and substantial environmental, economic, social, and health detriments against the public interest.
Thankfully due to the Take2 subpoena and the U.S. Department of Justice, we now have incontrovertible proof that Microsoft was lying when they said they were only collecting anonymous data. But there is another serious question. Is Microsoft Windows actually malware? The legal definition of malware, according to USLegalForms.com, is:
any software intentionally designed to cause harm to computers, networks, or users. It encompasses a range of harmful programs that can disrupt normal operations, steal sensitive information, or gain unauthorized access to systems. Common types of malware include viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, browser hijackers, and dialers. These programs often engage in abusive behavior, such as sending personal data to unauthorized parties over the Internet.
With that definition in mind… through Microsoft’s use of ads throughout the operating system (OS), in the taskbar, widgets, Edge web browser and menu system, its trusted platform module (TPM) enforcement, which I mentioned in my piece on age verification laws, and requirements to have an online account logged into Microsoft’s services, Windows can clearly be seen to “disrupts normal operations.” It’s Recall system is obviously “spyware” and can potentially “steal sensitive information, or gain unauthorized access to systems.” The GDID, to any reasonable person, constitutes “abusive behavior such as sending personal data to unauthorized parties over the internet.”
Can anyone honestly say that Microsoft products are not causing harm to “computers, networks, or users”? Recently Microsoft deleted 25 years of a user’s life because they said his account was hacked. They didn’t offer to compensate him or restore his account to him until the story went viral, even though they knew the account was his. Only a fool would claim that wasn’t “harm” to a user, network, or computer. There is a particularly apt meme going around regarding the Windows OS:
The general public can and should view this obscenely harmful software akin to malware, and the public should seek legal remedies wherever possible. I understand that is a monumental task, and the divide-by-zero (nonexistent) morals and ethics at Microsoft is not restricted to just Microsoft. I have not even touched on how the Take2 subpoena applied to Discord as well. This is an expansive and dark collaboration between corporations and nation-states to abuse their power and authority against the public, and as such it needs to be expounded upon in a careful discerning way. Because of that, I will be writing further pieces, carefully pulling back the veil on tech over time, in manageable steps, so you can armor yourself against the system of the beast and have the facts and alternative services or software that will not compromise your beliefs or morals.
I intend for my next piece to be on Sony’s End-User License Agreement (EULA) polices of theft, their own history of user abuse, and what “reasonableness” in law is.
I leave you with this truth: your rights are granted by God, not the state. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
Jeremy Williamson is LifeSiteNews’ director of IT & Engineering.