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Microsoft's unanswered privacy questions

After last week’s revelations about Microsoft’s cooperation with the US government, we asked some questions …. Still waiting for a reply of any kind.

After last week’s revelations about Microsoft’s cooperation with the US government, we asked some questions to Microsoft.   They asked for more time to reply, so we extended the deadline to over last weekend.

That deadline has now well past with no response.   So here’s the questions that Microsoft chooses not to answer … by no means an extensive list.

1.       Are Microsoft Office documents and other files that are saved in Skydrive accounts accessible to government agencies?

2.   Are Microsoft Office password protected documents that are saved in Skydrive accounts accessible to government agencies?

3.       Are password protected documents made accessible to government agencies in either encrypted or unencrypted form?

4.       We note that Microsoft is alleged to have put features in place to allow Outlook.com encrypted emails to be read by government agencies.  Are there systems in place for the accessing by government agencies of encrypted email sent or received for accounts hosted by Microsoft’s Office 365 service?

5.       Has or does Microsoft work with government agencies to allow access to documents, databases and other information in Microsoft hosted cloud services such as Sharepoint, Azure and Office 365.

6.       How does Microsoft explain the wide gap between their recent slogan to customers “Your privacy is our priority.” and the Microsoft’s seemingly willing and active participation in arrangements to reduce customer’s privacy?

 

It’s possible that Microsoft can’t properly answer some of these questions due to ‘gagging orders’ from the US government.  If that’s the case, then Microsoft could simply say so.  

Naturally, if Microsoft chooses to belatedly reply we’ll publish their response. 

In the meantime, you can decide for yourself about Microsoft’s true commitment to privacy when they won’t reply to some basic questions about their disclosure of your personal information.

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