Revelations about the expansiveness of the NSA’s data collection operations has raised the question of whether US companies like Microsoft, Google Facebook and others voluntarily put back doors into their software for the NSA or give the NSA unfettered access to customer data. Several weeks ago Microsoft published an official statement on its relationship with the NSA that unequivocally states that Microsoft only shares customer data when required to comply with legal requests and whenever possible notifies targeted customers when it does so. You can read the blog post here:

Microsoft: Protecting Customer Data From Government Snooping

A couple of weeks later WIRED interviewed me on the subject and I reiterated Brad Smith’s comments, explained how a cloud business requires customer trust and discussed the approach Windows Azure takes to secure customer data:

Clash of the Titans! Inside Microsoft’s Battle to Foil the NSA