Microsoft denied that it looks into hotmail user emails after controversies surrounding a recent snooping scandal made headlines.
Reports had it that the Microsoft, the leading software manufacturer, went to the hotmail account of an unnamed French journalist who published some company secrets. Microsoft argues that it was only a one-time incident and it doesn't regularly go through users' emails. The company also confirmed that it will no longer go through any user accounts, even if they find something amiss. They will directly call the cops.
"Effective immediately, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property from Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves," Brad Smith, Microsoft's top lawyer, wrote in a blog post, Friday. "Instead, we will refer the matter to law enforcement if further action is required."
Last week, Microsoft argued that it needed to do this, because courts do not issue orders authorizing someone to search themselves. The company faced a lot of criticism from privacy and civil liberties communities who said that the company's act of snooping around was not justified, even under those circumstances. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called Microsoft's announcement "Warrants for Windows."
"Unfortunately, this new policy just doubles down on ... Microsoft's indefensible and tone-deaf actions in the Kibkalo case. It begins with a false premise that courts do not issue orders in these circumstances because Microsoft was searching "itself," rather than the contents of its user's email on servers it controlled," it said in a published report, last week. "The warrant protections enshrined in the Constitution would be preserved, ECPA would be satisfied, and Microsoft could have claimed the high moral ground. Instead, Microsoft has opted for an internal corporate shadow court."
Microsoft is just one of the big email providers that have been accused of email snooping. Not long ago, Google was in the hot seat when the web giant was criticized and accused of prying into user's personal emails and Google accounts. However, the tech giant seems to have a good explanation for all the rumors.
"While our terms of service might legally permit such access, we have never done this and it's hard for me to imagine circumstances where we would investigate a leak in that way," Google's general counsel, Kent Walker, said in an emailed statement to Wired.com.
