Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
1–10 of 68 posts
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#2'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their property is being searched or seized.'
This is pleasing news, but to be honest I am a little concerned about the fact the Amazon didn't attempt one of these lawsuit earlier. I am not sure how cooperative AWS is with the government but I would assume they are the largest target for these types of requests. In general I like Amazon as a company but this makes me question their respect for user privacy.
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#3'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…
1) Well, I think Amazon doesn't really care and this shows its lack of care.
2) I'm only pleased if it works. I suspect in this environment it is going to flop and is largely for PR.
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#4Indefinite gag orders are definitely unconstitutional, and it has been proven before in Court. There should be an automatic limit as well for when the gag orders expire, like say 1-3 months, or whatever is considered "reasonable" for an investigation. After that, the government should have to get extensions every 3 months from a judge. After 2 or 3 years, the extension should be obtained only from a federal judge.
And it goes without saying that the gag orders should only be given in very specific scenarios, not for all data requests, or anytime the government wants to give one.
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#5'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…
Amazon promised bi-annual transparency reports here:
https://blogs.aws.amazon.com/security/blog/tag/Transparency+...
However only one report (covering a 6-month period) has was issued and posted in the initial blog post on June 2015. None have followed:
http://d0.awsstatic.com/certifications/Information_Request_R...
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#6'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…
1) Well, I think Amazon doesn't really care and this shows its lack of care. 2) I'm only pleased if it works. I suspect in this environment it is going to flop and is largely for PR.
Amazon did build the government its own AWS cloud. Perhaps they don't want to bite the hand of such a large customer?
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#7'Microsoft’s filing zeroes in on a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, written in 1986. The company argues that indefinite gag orders violate the First Amendment right to inform customers about the search of their files “as soon as secrecy is no longer required.” Additionally, the suit claims that the law “flouts” Fourth Amendment requirements that the government give notice to people when their p…
My impression of Amazon is they care much more about selling product than the product itself, across all their lines of business. I see the complying without a fight because it would slow down the selling process and would prevent any hint of these searches from actually going on to the public if they did.
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#8Indefinite gag orders are definitely unconstitutional, and it has been proven before in Court. There should be an automatic limit as well for when the gag orders expire, like say 1-3 months, or whatever is considered "reasonable" for an investigation. After that, the government should have to get extensions every 3 months from a judge. After 2 or 3 years, the extension should be obtained only from a federal judge. An…
It would be a pipe dream, but at the conclusion of the gag period there should additionally be a disclosure requirement - like a data breach notification. That would help balance out the desire to keep these things under wraps.
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#9Does this imply that the Justice department can search your computer if Windows 10 is installed? Or does this just apply to data MS has on you at MS? (OneDrive, use telemetry, etc)?
Re: Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searches
#10Does this imply that the Justice department can search your computer if Windows 10 is installed? Or does this just apply to data MS has on you at MS? (OneDrive, use telemetry, etc)?
So... there's no evidence the "Justice Department can search your computer if Win10 is installed" assuming your device is actually secure. Bad passwords, no supported integrated TPM or other issues (common to custom built machines) will comprimise your local device security and thusly make them the easiest method of attack.
If served a lawful subpoena, ANY cloud service provider may be required to hand over your data if they have that power. If you've got something truly critical (e.g., evidence you're transsexual in NC and use the "illegal"/correct bathroom) you should encrypt it even on top of what your CSP does. Windows, OSX and Linux all offer methods for doing this effectively.
I've used OneDrive with encrypted VHDs. It works fine, so long as you don't access the VHD from multiple places at once. I do this more because my OneDrive syncs to a surfacebook than because I am concerned about subpoenas.
As for the telemetry collected, it's probably not of any use to them. It's the same sort of stuff every app on your phone sends up to mixpanel. I wouldn't worry about that, as it's not a substantially greater privacy violation than the natural telemetry collected by the cell network and local ISPs. The only way it might be used against you is in proving a certain access pattern to the device at a certain time.