Microsoft is tired of waiting for the United States government to rein in the National Security Agency so it’s taking matters into its own hands. The Financial Times reports that Microsoft “will allow foreign customers to have their personal data stored on servers outside the U.S.,” a move that other tech companies such as Google have so far resisted due to cost concerns.
However, Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith tells The Financial Times that “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.”
That Microsoft is willing to go this far shows how much the NSA spying scandal has damaged trust between American tech companies and their international customers. Microsoft even took the unusual step late last year of classifying the United States government as “advanced persistent threat” to its customers’ security, a designation that the company normally uses only cyber terrorists sponsored by foreign governments.
