Microsoft promises not to scan Outlook accounts until its own ‘court order’

Microsoft claims to tighten the conditions under which it will browse in Outlook.com accounts. The company is doing this in response to the fuss that arose after the company discovered the identity of the persons behind a software theft through a scan of accounts.

A former Microsoft employee allegedly provided internal copies of Windows 7 and 8, and the Activation Server Software Development Kit, to a French blogger, it was revealed on Thursday. Although the blogger distributed the software under an alias, the American company was able to find out the identities of the two after a scan of his Outlook.com account. The case has sparked a lot of discussion on the internet about privacy.

John Frank, vice president of Microsoft, says in a response to the case to The Verge that the company will offer more transparency in similar situations in the future. “It is not possible for a company to get a court order to scan accounts from its own services, but we will proceed as if we did.” For example, the company plans to deploy a team of lawyers in addition to an internal investigation team, who must estimate whether a situation calls for such a hypothetical court order. The company then goes to a lawyer and former judge outside the company, who must also determine whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed with an investigation. Only then will Microsoft possibly scan one of its Outlook.com accounts.

In addition to these terms, a lawyer will monitor the actual investigation of an Outlook.com account to ensure that matters not relevant to the investigation are not being considered. Finally, Microsoft plans to publish data on these types of internal investigations in the company’s biennial transparency report. However, when it comes to an investigation of a Microsoft employee’s accounts, the company only publishes the subject of the investigation.