Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith has said that Microsoft will allow foreign customers to make use of its cloud servers outside the US - in a response the US government data snooping scandal. The move has been deemed necessary by Microsoft "although many tech companies were opposed to the idea," reports the FT. The reasoning is that leaks have shown the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been sifting through data of foreign citizens and not just US residents. This is something even close US allies aren't happy about.
"People should have the ability to know whether their data are being subjected to the laws and access of governments in some other country and should have the ability to make an informed choice of where their data resides," Brad Smith told the FT. This move would make Microsoft the first major company to explicitly offer non-US storage. Smith gave an example of how the system would work saying that European users would be able to choose to utilise Microsoft's Irish data centres for storage.
Microsoft's idea has been welcomed by data privacy campaigners but the big question is if such offshore data is really more private and out of reach of US government snoopers. It was pointed out by the FT that US Tech companies can still be forced by their government to hand over user data, wherever it may be held.
Smith did not mention any concrete plans about the implementation of this offshore data idea. However he did say that if Microsoft ignored what its customers wanted, by not making their company and personal data as private as possible, then "That’s not a smart business strategy". This is especially true with the current mistrust of US tech companies evident in Europe and China.
Office Web Apps get updated
In related news Microsoft has just updated its web apps with a new flatter look and other tweaks to the interfaces. TechCrunch reports that the new look makes all the apps more similar in design to the Outlook.com email portal. Easier navigation and spacing improvements are said to make touch-operation easier too.
