My suspicion is that misguided patriotism had more to do with Microsoft’s cooperation with the NSA and other intelligence agencies than the niceties of law. I see Bill Gates looking something like Elvis trying to get the Nixon White House to give him a role as a narcotics officer for the FBI. No matter what the reason, it’s done. In the process, a gaping hole has been discovered in the computer security of all governments and businesses that compete in any way with the United States. The name of that hole is “proprietary binaries.”