Microsoft criminal compliance handbook leaks online

Sam Varghese
Thursday, 25 February 2010 13:23

IT Policy - Regulation

A confidential Microsoft document that has been leaked on the internet appears to be causing the company some heartburn as it attempts to shut down distribution of the same.

The document, Microsoft's Global Criminal Compliance Handbook, was put online by Cryptome, a whistleblower website.

It details the type of snooping that Microsoft will do for law enforcement bodies on its online platforms like MSN, Hotmail, Windows Live and Xbox. There are also detailed instructions for obtaining IP addresses.

A notice issued by Microsoft, asking Cryptome to take down the 22-page guide on Wednesday US time, on the grounds that it was a copyrighted work, did not cut much ice with the website.

Later, Cryptome editor John Young received a notice from his hosting company, Network Solutions, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and threatening that it would take down his website if he did not comply with Microsoft's demand.

Young refused to budge and the site is now down and his domain has been locked by Network Solutions. Cryptome has now been hosted temporarily elsewhere.

The website Geekosystem said Young had told it that all lawful spying arrangements should be made public. He also pointed out that many other companies, which had similar obligations to law enforcement, like Cisco, made such details as contained in the document, public so that users would be aware as well.

The document has now been put online by BusinessInsider, which said in its accompanying report that "using a bogus copyright claim to try to keep users in the dark about what it's doing with their data is inexcusable."