The Guardian recently obtained top secret files that reveal just how closely Microsoft worked with the much-maligned NSA.
Among other things, the report speaks of Microsoft allowing the NSA the ability to intercept web chats; access to Microsoft’s cloud-based storage system SkyDrive; and audio and video recordings of conversations on Skype, the chat tool Microsoft bought in 2011.
The revelations come at a particularly bad time for Microsoft, Gizmodo reports. Just a few hours earlier on Thursday, the company announced vast new restructuring plans.
Ironically, Microsoft launched a marketing campaign in April with the slogan “Your privacy is our priority.”
In response to the allegations, Microsoft said, “When we upgrade or update products we aren’t absolved from the need to comply with existing or future lawful demands.” They also insist they only provide customer data when asked by the government, and further, only when the data is about a specific case or person.
Many major technology firms in Silicon Valley are reportedly lobbying the government to allow them to disclose the exact nature of their co-operation with the NSA, citing customer concern over privacy.
Since the revelation of the PRISM program, technology firms listed on NSA documents have routinely denied any knowledge of the program’s existence. They have also said the NSA does not have any “back door” access to their data.
Several countries have since expressed concern over the extent of the NSA’s spying. Most recently, two French human rights groups are suing the NSA, as reported by Digital Journal.
Various US politicians have defended the PRISM program, however, saying that it is crucial to the nation’s security.
