Microsoft representatives recently announced that Windows Vista won’t have any backdoor that could be used by the British authorities, as a BBC article suggested in February.

“From later this year, the encryption landscape is going to change with the release of Microsoft Vista," Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The system uses BitLocker Drive Encryption which can be linked to a chip called TPM (Trusted Platform Module) in the computer's motherboard and it is aimed at preventing tampering with computers but it would also help prevent people from downloading unlicensed films or media.

According to CNET News, Microsoft’s strongly denied such an idea and said that BitLocker’s purpose was to protect the data on a stolen or lost computer.

"Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a company representative said in a statement sent to CNET via e-mail.

"The suggestion is that we are working with governments to create a back door so that they can always access BitLocker-encrypted data. Over my dead body," Niels Ferguson, a developer and cryptographer at Microsoft, wrote Thursday on a corporate blog.

Microsoft recently announced the six official versions for Windows Vista, the replacement of the old, yet updated, XP.

The six official versions, which should become available later on during the year, are Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate si Windows Vista Starter.