Reuters: Technology News: Microsoft asks U.S. to let it disclose security requests

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Microsoft asks U.S. to let it disclose security requests Jul 16th 2013, 20:23 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Stranded fugitive Snowden seeks temporary asylum in Russia 3:00pm EDT Russia says no asylum request yet from fugitive Snowden Sat, Jul 13 2013 Fugitive Snowden to seek temporary asylum in Russia Fri, Jul 12 2013 Microsoft aims to power mobile effort in major overhaul Thu, Jul 11 2013 Fugitive Snowden's options narrow as asylum requests spurned Tue, Jul 2 2013 Analysis & Opinion U.S. official snubbed in Egypt visit Microsoft needs focus, gets bigger org chart The Microsoft logo is seen at their offices in Bucharest March 20, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Bogdan Cristel SEATTLE | Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:23pm EDT SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it has written to the U.S. Attorney General to ask for more freedom to disclose how it handles requests for customer data from national security organizations. The appeal comes a week after the Guardian newspaper reported that Microsoft allowed U.S. security agencies to circumvent encryption of Outlook emails and capture Skype online chats, citing leaked documents provided by Edward Snowden. The world's largest software company said there were "significant inaccuracies" in the media reports last week and asserted it does not allow any government direct or unfettered access to customers' emails, instant messages or data. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder made public on Tuesday, company lawyer Brad Smith asked Holder to take action personally to permit Microsoft to reveal more about how many security requests it receives and how it handles them. "We believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees our freedom to share more information with the public, yet the Government is stopping us," said Smith in a blog on Microsoft's website. He said government lawyers have not responded to a court motion made in mid-June asking for permission to publish the volume of requests it has received. So far, the U.S. government has restricted what companies can say under about the requests under the highly secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Last month, it allowed the disclosure of aggregate numbers of requests for customer data, but not the breakdown of the split between surveillance and crime-related requests. Microsoft and Google Inc, along with Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and other U.S. tech leaders are scrambling to assert their independence after documents leaked to the Guardian suggested they gave the U.S. government "direct access" to customer accounts as part of a National Security Agency (NSA) program called Prism. The Guardian went further in detailing Microsoft's collusion with the NSA last week, citing new top-secret documents it said were leaked by Snowden, the original source of the Prism reports. Microsoft did not directly mention the latest Guardian report, but contradicted its central claims. "Microsoft does not provide any government with direct and unfettered access to our customers' data," said Smith in his blog. "Microsoft only pulls and then provides the specific data mandated by the relevant legal demand." (Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Gary Hill and Andre Grenon) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (1) Waste of time… It doesn't matter what they say or do. None of the paranoid conspiracy crowd, will ever believe it anyway. Jul 16, 2013 3:47pm EDT  --  Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment

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