They're Reading Your Mail: Microsoft's ToS, Windows 8 Leak, and Snooping

After the recent Windows 8 leak by recently arrrested then-Microsoft employee Alex Kibkalo, Microsoft has tweaked its privacy policies, but also defended reading the email of the French blogger to whom Kibkalo sent the software. "The blogger in question, who remains unidentified, happened to use Hotmail—the investigation began in 2012 before Hotmail's Outlook.com transition—as his primary email account. So as part of its investigation, Microsoft peeked into the blogger's email account to read that person's correspondence with Kibkalo. ... Microsoft says it was justified in searching the blogger's email account, because it had probable cause to believe Kibkalo was funneling trade secrets to the blogger.The company also pointed out that even with its justification for searching the account, it would have been impossible to gain a court order." "The legal system wouldn't have let us" seems a strange argument to defend any act of snooping.

Comments

Re: Bad summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Quote : "Microsoft is saying that it already had the right to search the mailbox"

And you see no fallacy here? Incredible.

Intruder is saying he already had the right to break into the house. No need to ask for permission.

Good news : I am allowed to smash you in the face. Who allowed it? Well me, obviously. I allowed it so why should I ask you or someone else? Me as the owner of the fist allowed it.

Tl;dr : You must be batshit crazy to think that was legitimate without a court order. But hey, MS said so. Must be true then. Facepalm