Great news from Web hosting company Network Solutions this morning. A company representative tells us that Microsoft will withdraw the copyright complaint against long-time watchdog website Cryptome.org, and the site will be back online later today.
Yesterday Cryptome published a 22-page PDF called the “Microsoft Global Criminal Compliance Handbook”. Cryptome publisher John Young said he believed the document showed “improper use of copyright to conceal […] violations of trust toward its customers.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation said Young was within his fair use rights, but the watchdog site was pulled offline none the less. After 14 years spent posting 40,000 sensitive documents, Cryptome is a legacy resource online. Its return is something to celebrate.
We took an in-depth look at the document in question last night. The document details the various privacy policies of Microsoft services and the ways that Microsoft can expose user data to law enforcement, among other things. The guide is just one of many similar documents from other companies that have been published on the site. Network Solutions says it will announce the withdrawal of the DMCA copyright complaint by Microsoft and the return of Cryptome online later this morning.
