14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has said several times it’s willing to reveal information about its customers to law enforcement as long as a valid legal order is provided, and the company’s commitment to helping authorities track down criminals was reiterated last week after the London attack.
The Redmond-based software giant was capable of providing investigators with access to data belonging to the Westminster Bridge attacker in less than 30 minutes, the company revealed in a statement without providing any details as to what information was actually disclosed.
“Our team responded in under 30 minutes last week to verify that the legal order was valid and provided law enforcement the information that was sought,” Microsoft President Brad Smith was quoted as saying by Mashable.
Even though Microsoft expressed its intention to collaborate with governments in catching criminals worldwide, Smith’s statements that such a thing would happen only if a valid order is provided was received with mixed reactions in the United Kingdom.
Last week, UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd called for tech companies to not provide terrorists with what she called “a secret place,” pointing to WhatsApp as the platform whose end-to-end encryption made it possible to communicate without being intercepted.
Working with the government if a valid order is available
Smith’s comments have thus been criticized in the United Kingdom, including by the press, with The Sun itself publishing a headline claiming Microsoft didn’t agree with Rudd’s demand for help in the anti-terrorism fight.
In a follow-up statement, Smith has reiterated that Microsoft is fully committed to working with authorities as long as a valid order is provided.
“Our global team is on call 24/7 and responds when it receives a proper and lawful order. This of course is different from helping a government outside the rule of law to turn over private information or hack or attack a customer, which we’ve said clearly we will not do. We’re committed both to protecting public safety and safeguarding personal privacy, and we believe that proper legal process is the key to striking this balance,” he said.
Microsoft is currently involved in a legal dispute with the US government over a data request order that it considers illegal and asking for data stored on a data center overseas. Microsoft says the warrant should only be valid in the United States and data that’s located on foreign services shouldn’t be available to the US government.