In a move that many were a bit surprised by, Microsoft continues to publically criticize the U.S. government due to the recent NSA scandal (and specifically President Obama).
It’s a very different scene in the press these days for the maker of the Xbox, who was an open supporter of all things Democrat in the past (while Bill Gates was at the helm). General Counsel and Executive VP Brad Smith expresses a slightly less-enthused view of the government’s recent actions. “Despite the President’s reform efforts and our ability to publish more information, there has not yet been any public commitment by either the U.S. or other governments to renounce the attempted hacking of Internet companies. This has been and remains a major concern across the tech sector.” He said on Microsoft’s blog.
Smith also makes it perfectly clear that they plan to continue putting the President on blast (yeah, I just dated myself there) by making any and all requests by the government public. “Going forward, we’ll include the data published today in our upcoming Law Enforcement Requests Report, so we can provide a comprehensive view of all the legal demands we receive from the U.S. government. We publish these reports every six months.” Smith assures.
We’ll bring you more news on the NSA and Microsoft’s involvement as it breaks.