A Microsoft official has defended the company's right to comb through users' email and instant messages after admitting in federal documents that it had investigated a blogger's private missives.
Lawyer John Frank, Microsoft vice president of legal and corporate affairs, attempted to add "context" to the decision in a blog post published on Thursday, CNNMoney reported.
While he noted that user communication should be private, Frank said the company "took extraordinary actions based on the specific circumstances" when it came to the recent employee investigation.
In federal court documents, former Microsoft employee Alex Kibkalo admitted that he had leaked confidential company papers and information to a blogger. As part of the investigation, Microsoft searched its own servers to find an email from Kibkalo to the blogger.
According to Frank, Microsoft couldn't obtain a search warrant to look through the blogger's email because the company essentially owned the information already.
"The investigation repeatedly identified clear evidence that the third party involved intended to sell Microsoft IP and had done so in the past," Frank explained in the blog post.
"Courts do not, however, issue orders authorizing someone to search themselves, since obviously no such order is needed. So even when we believe we have probable cause, there's not an applicable court process for an investigation such as this one relating to the information stored on servers located on our own premises."
He went on to specify that Microsoft won't search user emails and instant messages "unless the circumstances would justify a court order, if one were available." Essentially, the company will only pore through Hotmail accounts and other services if officials believe they will find information related to a crime.
Security advocates still think Microsoft's decision has disturbing implications for user privacy.
According to Ginger McCall, a director at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the incident shows that "Microsoft clearly believes that the users' personal data belongs to Microsoft, not the users themselves.
"This is part of the broader problem with privacy policies," she told CNNMoney. "There are hidden terms that the users don't actually know are there. If the terms were out in the open, people would be horrified by them."
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