Microsoft moves to assure international business customers on spying

Microsoft

The maker of the world's most popular computer operating system said it had never turned over any such data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and did not believe that authorities are entitled to the information if it is stored abroad. "We are committing contractually to not turning it over without litigating that issue," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said in an interview with Reuters.

To dramatically increase the amount of encryption

Smith also said that Microsoft would dramatically increase the amount of encryption it uses for internal traffic, following similar moves by Google Inc

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Smith said Microsoft was caught by surprise by reports in The Washington Post, based on documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden, that the NSA had successfully penetrated the other companies and perhaps targeted it as well. "That really was like an earthquake sending shock waves through our industry," Smith said. Past discussions with federal officials, he said, have always been based on working out what the law required, without any hint that the company might be subjected to attacks based on "technological brute force" instead of legal process.

Addressing another concern, a spokeswoman said the company did not believe it could be ordered to install spyware on a user's machine and that Microsoft would fight any such directive in court. Microsoft said it would encrypt consumer data that it stores and would work with other email providers to make sure that messages stay secure when they move from a service such as Microsoft's Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, to another, such as those from Google or Yahoo.

Microsoft said it would also expand the use of regional centers that allow governments worried about U.S. "back doors" in its software to inspect the source code. The technical measures will move Microsoft close to parity with other major Internet companies in their protections for consumers.

In the cloud business, which provides remote storage and computing power for companies, Microsoft's top rival is Amazon.com Inc.

Reuters