Statement of Microsoft Corporation on Customer Privacy

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On June 6, media outlets including the Washington Post and Guardian began reporting allegations that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting customer communications data from major technology companies, including Microsoft. Microsoft issued the following statement about the company’s alleged involvement in these activities:

We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis. In addition we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers. If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.
 
Good luck with that bogus statement since it does not cover international bit which is the main concern since that is where all of the companies seem to just allow data to be shared.
 
Corporate damage control statements meant to distance the company from the government. Meh...like anyone cares anyway. It's stupid to even worry about it.
 
runward said:
It is never stupid to worry about what power the government is taking and how it could be abused. Because at some point it will be.
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Yeah, I'm okay with that. There's gonna be some dumb person that uses their authority to read their cheating husband's e-mail and it'll be a huge scandal, but that's no different than a [H] forum member spitting in someone's burger before serving it to them. It's just a human thing. Not doing it because someone "might" abuse it is a lot dumber than doing it and keeping track of all the wierdos and freaks out there who need to be watched because they post about how awful their government is on a computer forum.
 
I actually think it is better to make the data available to everyone than only to the government. Then at least you can use big data to fight back if big government uses it to frame you for something.

In the bigger picture, this is the government insight/oversight/obtrusiveness extension of the "who owns your data" question. I'm happy to let google data-mine me in exchange for the services I get from google, and I don't directly have a problem with the government data-mining me. But don't give us BS about being able to achieve 100% security. The only way to ensure that no one else can adversely affect you is to kill yourself now. For the government to pretend otherwise is FUD.
 
If I were a mega huge company. I'd publicly announce that from now on ALL our data records and logs are public/private key encrypted and we have given our keys to the EFF and/or EPIC and all the data we can provide under subpoena is encrypted as such. Should the government or any other agency wish to have access, they can sue them and make them release the keys.
 
If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.
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So they still haven't denied there is an involuntary program they participate in that may/may not be broader.
 
Aseras said:
If I were a mega huge company. I'd publicly announce that from now on ALL our data records and logs are public/private key encrypted and we have given our keys to the EFF and/or EPIC and all the data we can provide under subpoena is encrypted as such. Should the government or any other agency wish to have access, they can sue them and make them release the keys.
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If I were a mega huge company, I'd form a private military and march on D.C. They would be armed with lasers.
 
If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.
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UEFI & Intel AMT = everything is rainbows & unicorns
 
When the gov can force a company to do whatever it wills, we have a problem.
 
I still haven't been able to figure out from the leaked slides whether or not the NSA has direct access to these companies servers or just splits off all incoming/outgoing traffic to these companies and then stores the data themselves for later use. Prism implies splitting off the fiber optics and making copies.
 
See that cloud over your head M$, the FEDS live in there. You have been assimilated and don't even know it.
 
They have no choice. Even if they could fight off a court ordered rubber stamped subpoena for information the government would withhold acquisition deals, building permits, audits, you name it they would do it. Don't ever tell me that corporations are somehow evil when they can't print money like the government can, tax you at the point of gun like the government can, shut you down like the government can, enforce any law they want against you like government can. I'll take a corporation over a government like the one we have any day of the week.
 
" If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it."

Key word... "voluntary". You damn well know they issued you a secret court order to "compel" you. A secret court order that prevents you from even talking about it and shields you and gives you an "out" to say you didnt have a choice.
 
The country is so fucked up now, especially since Friday's bombshell (yet not surprising to many of us) is the government and corporations are lying to us, because ultimately is happening is nobody is going to stop them from doing so, nor do we have the power to stop them. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, are all complicit in their guilt with PRISM, but as long as they make a statement, it's aaaaaaaaaaall good.
 
BettiePage said:
" If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it."

Key word... "voluntary". You damn well know they issued you a secret court order to "compel" you. A secret court order that prevents you from even talking about it and shields you and gives you an "out" to say you didnt have a choice.
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Yep. Plausible Deniability.
 
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