Thank you MS for spying on us!

[smurfalarm]

It doesn't matter what you agree to. If a clause is unenforceable by law, it's unenforceable full stop.

As an extreme example, if the MSFT agreement states that by using OneDrive I agree to them being able to take my children away from to to use as domestic servants, and I use OneDrive, the agreement is clearly ludicrous and MSFT wouldn't be able to enact it.

Nothing in the MSFT agreement supercedes local laws.

I would be really surprised if there are any German laws that prohibit cloud storage service providers from turning over evidence of child pornography to local authorities.

 

[seb_r]

It doesn't matter what you agree to. If a clause is unenforceable by law, it's unenforceable full stop.

As an extreme example, if the MSFT agreement states that by using OneDrive I agree to them being able to take my children away from to to use as domestic servants, and I use OneDrive, the agreement is clearly ludicrous and MSFT wouldn't be able to enact it.

Nothing in the MSFT agreement supercedes local laws.

Thanks for pointing out in a way hopefully everybody understands now - FINALLY someone got it right. Indeed maybe the point of the article above got lost for some ppl due to translation as its not about the usual "Microsoft it's scanning my files! Eeek!" paranoia. And probably the lack of knowledge about other countries laws, like in this case europe where privacy still has some value - which is not surprising since there was a country where privacy was the exception and monitoring and surveillance daily routine. Ask those people who suffered under that regime for decades until 1989.
As being said in the article, giving out any kind of information based upon their own decision to third without a valid adjudication first is the questionable / unlawful act. And as we all know any evidence gained by the use of unlawful methods is usually not accepted by the court. So theres a chance this guy gets away with less than what he really deserves - and that is what none of us wants, right? Also MS will likely have to deal with charges as well for what they did besides the mistrust from users and some privacy groups already giving a statement about this.

 

[seb_r]

Exactly but Microsoft still have to comply with those local laws. This means they have a legal obligation to make sure you aren't using their services for anything illegal, otherwise Microsoft would be putting themselves at risk.

Thats correct. But not by violating another law.

I would be really surprised if there are any German laws that prohibit cloud storage service providers from turning over evidence of child pornography to local authorities.

Of course there is no such law and without any doubt MS has to give any kind of information requested by the authorities via adjudication from court which might be more helpful to the case than simply leaking a file. But this not empowers them to break local law either, right?

 

[rhapdog]

Here's a privacy law I wish more people understood: If you want privacy, then don't put it on the internet.

 

[neo158]

Thats correct. But not by violating another law.

Except that data might not be stored in Germany, therefore it wouldn't be violating German Laws. Why do you think that Microsoft is fighting the domestic US search warrant that wants data from the data centre in Ireland?

Of course there is no such law and without any doubt MS has to give any kind of information requested by the authorities via adjudication from court which might be more helpful to the case than simply leaking a file. But this not empowers them to break local law either, right?

Yes, from the courts in which the data centre resides NOT the country in which you reside.

 

[smurfalarm]

Of course there is no such law and without any doubt MS has to give any kind of information requested by the authorities via adjudication from court which might be more helpful to the case than simply leaking a file. But this not empowers them to break local law either, right?

I'm saying that turning over evidence of child pornography to law enforcement is probably not violating any laws, and you are saying that it is, so we're going in circles. Can you please just provide any reference to whatever actual law you believe Microsoft broke so we can move on from this point?

 

[timbo_sf2]

MSFT has to spy OneDrive or else they'll end up like Hotfile or Megaupload and get fined

 

[colinkiama]

All the big companies spy on you. Why are you surprised. Didn't you agree to the terms and conditions.

 

[neo158]

MSFT has to spy OneDrive or else they'll end up like Hotfile or Megaupload and get fined

That's not spying, they monitor their own services to make sure it's not being used for anything illegal e.g. Child Pornography but they don't have access to the files themselves under normal circumstances.

 

[neo158]

All the big companies spy on you. Why are you surprised. Didn't you agree to the terms and conditions.

That's true but it depends what for and to what degree, Microsoft scan emails for malicious attachments and monitor their other services for ToS violations. Google are known for actively scanning emails to provide you with ads and that makes me wary of their other services as well.