It ’s no mystery that government agencies oblige tech company to give them ( totally sound ) access code to user data . It ’s also pretty well experience that the technical school companies charge the politics for the trouble . We ’ve just never really known how much — until now .
Long story unforesightful , Microsoftcharges the FBI ( register : taxpayer ) hundred of thousands of dollar mark a monthfor accession to data about you . And their rates are on the acclivity . The Syrian Electronic Army says it hacked into the FBI ’s ace - secret Digital Intercept Technology Unit ( DITU ) , where they found the real bill from Microsoft detailing how much each postulation for data monetary value .
An invoice from December 2012 sum $ 145,100 which boil down to $ 100 per request . The rate had doubled by August 2013 when Microsoft charged the FBI $ 200 per request for a total of $ 352,200 . The most late invoice from November 2013 is $ 281,000 . think of : all of those six - figure sums ( provided by taxpayers ) are for one calendar month ’s worth of exploiter data point petition . That append up to millions of dollar a year .
A selection from the August 2013 invoice . View all of the hacked invoiceshere .
Do n’t get too mad about this . As many expert tell The Daily Dot , who got to analyze the documents before the SEA released them publicly , it ’s actually a really good thing that Microsoft charges the FBI for these requests , if for no other rationality than it leave alone a paper lead . Actually , when companies like Google and Yahoo shoot down the government for access to datum , that money can potentially go toward take a shit free services — like email — safe . Indeed , these servicesare getting better and more secure .
This is all assuming that the text file are real . While we sleep with that the Syrian Electronic Armyhas hacked Microsoft before , it ’s always surd to tell if hacked document are authentic or just another excuse for attention . However , Microsoft did announce a breach on its web log earlier this year . “ It appears that documents associated with law enforcement research were stolen,”reads the post .
Meanwhile , experts think these invoices are legit . “ I do n’t see any indication that they ’re not real , ” EFF lawyer severalise The Daily Dot . “ If I was operate to fudge something like this , I would seek to fake it up a lot more sensational than this . ”
Soyou wanted transparentness ? Here it is . Thank the cyber-terrorist ( and the taxpayer ) . [ Daily Dot ]
https://gizmodo.com/how-to-pick-your-battles-in-the-war-against-transparenc-513102222
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