Hither'south how much Microsoft charges the FBI to legally encounter people'due south information

When Microsoft complies with legal FBI requests to see people'due south data, it doesn't provide it for free -- and the numbers can really add up. Co-ordinate to the hacker's group the Syrian Electronic Regular army, here'southward how much Microsoft charges.

The Syrian Electronic Army is a group of hackers who support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and they've managed to conduct many loftier-profile hacking attacks, including against the Washington Post, the Associated Printing, CNN, and BBC News amid many others. They've as well attacked eBay. And they've also hacked Microsoft before this latest assault.

The Daily Dot reports that the group hacked into Microsoft and taken documents that "appear to be invoices and emails between Microsoft'southward Global Criminal Compliance squad and the FBI'southward Digital Intercept Technology Unit (DITU), and purport to bear witness exactly how much money Microsoft charges DITU, in terms of compliance costs, when DITU provides warrants and court orders for customers' data."

The documents, if true, bear witness that Microsoft charges the FBI hundreds of thousands of dollars a month for complying with legal requests for customer information, at a rate of between $100 and $200 for each request. The Daily Dot reports:

In December 2012, for example, Microsoft emailed DITU a PDF invoice for $145,100, cleaved downward to $100 per request for information, the documents appear to show. In Baronial 2013, Microsoft allegedly emailed a similar invoice, this time for $352,200, at a rate of $200 per request. The latest invoice provided, from November 2013, is for $281,000.

There's nothing wrong with Microsoft doing this. In fact, it's a good thing they accuse the FBI, because that at least provides the tiniest of barriers to the federal government flooding companies with requests for users' private data.

Of course, $100 or $200 is chump modify for the feds and for Microsoft. And Microsoft told the Daily Dot that it doesn't embrace all of the company'due south costs for handing over information. The company said:

"As pursuant to U.S. constabulary, Microsoft is entitled to seek reimbursement for costs associated with compliance with a valid legal demands. ... To be clear, these reimbursements cover but a portion of the costs we actually incur to comply with legal orders."

These numbers don't cover the NSA. Of course, given that the NSA has been essentially hacking Microsoft, Google, and others, and at times taking data without the companies knowing near it, Microsoft and Google don't always need to practice annihilation in order to plough data over to the NSA. The NSA just grabs information technology.

The just existent news here is a reminder about how hands bachelor your information is to the authorities when they want information technology. Getting your private data is nothing more these days than a uncomplicated bureaucratic procedure, and a bit of financial housekeeping for companies similar Microsoft and Google.

Preston Gralla is a contributing editor for Computerworld and the author of more than than 45 books, including Windows 8 Hacks (O'Reilly, 2012) and How the Internet Works (Que, 2006).

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