Microsoft Says U.S. ‘Hacked Links’ Between Data Centers

Microsoft's Brad Smith says the US government ought to end bulk collection of phone data, reform FISA court, and stop hacking data centers.

by Charles Cooper

Microsoft legal chief Brad SmithGetty Images

Microsoft's top lawyer verbally gobsmacked the United States government on Wednesday, proposing a laundry list of surveillance reforms he says ought to get instituted immediately.

"It's now apparent that the government intercepted data in transit across the Internet and hacked links between company data centers," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, wrote in a blog post today. "These disclosures rightly have prompted a vigorous debate over the extent and scope of government surveillance, leading to some positive changes. But much more needs to be done.

http://www.cnet.com/news/microsofts-top-lawyer-tells-uncle-sam-to-back-off-on-surveillance/

Microsoft, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google And Yahoo Join Apple In Revealing More On NSA Requests

 Darrell Etherington (@drizzled)

All the big tech companies are opening up a bit more about requests made by the U.S. National Security Agency, with Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and LinkedIndetailing new info included in their respective transparency reports today. The new reports now include how many requests for the data of its members it has received from the government, how many total users were affected, and what percentage of those receive a response from the company.

Apple released similar data last week alongside its earning call, and there’s a reason for the timing that’s non-coincidental: A change to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act just put into effect now allows the companies to share more specifics around what kind of information they’re sharing and being asked to share by the government. Theincreased transparency was put into effect last week, in a ruling addressed to the legal counsel of all those companies listed above.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/03/microsoft-facebook-linkedin-google-and-yahoo-join-apple-in-revealing-more-on-nsa-requests/

Microsoft renames SkyDrive to OneDrive

By Tom Warren on January 27, 2014 08:48 am

Microsoft is renaming its SkyDrive cloud storage to OneDrive. The software giant has registered onedrive.com and the company has a promotional video on YouTube announcing the new name. Microsoft says the name change will take place soon, and that the service "will continue to operate as you expect and all of your content will be available on OneDrive and OneDrive for Business respectively as the new name is rolled out across the portfolio."

The name change comes more than six months after Microsoft was forced to rename SkyDrive following a trademark case with British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB). Microsoft is positioning the new OneDrive naming as the one place for documents, photos, and other content. "Changing the name of a product as loved as SkyDrive wasn’t easy," admits Microsoft's Ryan Gavin. "We are excited about what is to come, and can’t wait to share more."

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/27/5349830/microsoft-onedrive-new-name-for-skydrive