The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Current affairsNewsScience, Health & Technology

Microsoft allowed NSA full access to encrypted information

Microsoft allowed NSA full access to encrypted information
12 July 2013
Keumars Afifi-Sabet
Avatar
Keumars Afifi-Sabet
12 July 2013

It has been revealed that computer company Microsoft helped US intelligence services bypass its encryption mechanisms to acquire easier access to private user data, including information from Outlook.com, SkyDrive and Skype.

Documents given to The Guardian, supplied by Edward Snowden, have indicated the degree to which tech companies associated with the National Security Association (NSA) and its PRISM programme.

Microsoft have since defended itself, citing a legal obligation to co-operate with requests from the authorities while ensuring it does not “provide blanket or direct access” to its services.

A statement read: “We take our commitments to our customers and to compliance with applicable laws very seriously, so we provide customer data only in response to legal processes.”

The statement continued, “we only ever comply with orders about specific accounts or identifiers, and we would not respond to the kind of blanket orders discussed in the press”.

The statement concluded, saying: “To be clear, Microsoft does not provide any government with blanket or direct access to SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Skype or any Microsoft product.”

On the contrary, Snowden’s leaks have indicated that Microsoft have not only provided the NSA unwarranted access to customer data but that customer data is freely shared between the FBI and the CIA.

The NSA were given easier access to SkyDrive, web chats via Outlook.com and in July 2012 developed the ability to collate three times as many Skype calls as it had been doing previously.

Cooperation between data firms and the authorities has been well publicised recently. It was reported yesterday that two French human rights groups have issued a legal complaint against the NSA, the FBI and seven tech firms.

The complaint named Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Paltalk, Facebook, AOL and Apple as “potential accomplices” of the NSA and the FBI.

The tech firms involved have meanwhile continued to deny the extent to which the allegations stretch.

Keumars Afifi-Sabet

Related Items

More in Current Affairs

Women of Ireland have rolled over for long enough: The 8th and the long walk to abortion rights

Emma Kiely
Read More

Changes to expect during menopause

The editorial unit
Read More

Why Equity Linked Savings Schemes is a preferred tax saving?

The editorial unit
Read More

How the world’s top designers would rebrand political parties

The editorial unit
Read More

Royal baby furore: Proof that the British monarchy is still popular?

Eoin O’Sullivan-Harris
Read More

World Mental Health Day 2018: Raising awareness and combating stigma

The editorial unit
Read More

Seven political personalities you should know about

The editorial unit
Read More

Donald Trump: An enemy of the arts?

The editorial unit
Read More

Trump’s fortune: Where did the money come from?

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Tips for creating a peaceful home
    Feature of the week
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Five Days at Memorial
    ★★★★★
    apple
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

MPs could get pay rise of up to £6,000
Glee star Cory Monteith dies aged 31