Like many others, we are especially alarmed by recent allegations in the press of a broader and concerted effort by some governments to circumvent online security measures – and in our view, legal processes and protections – in order to surreptitiously collect private customer data. In particular, recent press stories have reported allegations of governmental interception and collection – without search warrants or legal subpoenas – of customer data as it travels between customers and servers or between company data centers in our industry.

If true, these efforts threaten to seriously undermine confidence in the security and privacy of online communications. Indeed, government snooping potentially now constitutes an “advanced persistent threat,” alongside sophisticated malware and cyber attacks.

In light of these allegations, we’ve decided to take immediate and coordinated action in three areas:

· We are expanding encryption across our services. · We are reinforcing legal protections for our customers’ data. · We are enhancing the transparency of our software code, making it easier for customers to reassure themselves that our products do not contain back doors.

Here’s a closer look at what we’re doing: Protecting customer data from government snooping – The Official Microsoft Blog – Site Home – TechNet Blogs.