Microsoft handed the government encryption keys for customer data

Zac Bowden on Twitter / X

Microsoft says that it will work with the FBI to unlock your Windows PCs encrypted data if asked.BitLocker encryption keys that are uploaded to the cloud via your Microsoft Account are not encrypted on Microsoft's servers, which means the company is able to see the keys and… pic.twitter.com/BRYU6sUiCe— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) January 24, 2026

Purpose of the "Windows" lock key

Despite Doubts, Federal Cyber Experts Approved Microsoft Cloud Service — ProPublica

A federal program created to protect the government against cyber threats authorized a sprawling Microsoft cloud product, despite the company’s inability to fully explain how it protects sensitive data.

Microsoft exec called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,' new unredacted filings reveal | TechCrunch

Newly unsealed court filings show Microsoft privately called OpenAI's data practices "theft" while both companies scraped paywalled Times content, built datasets from it, and warned internally it would gut publishers.

Microsoft “Digital Escorts” Could Expose Defense Dept. Data to Chinese Hackers — ProPublica

The Pentagon bans foreign citizens from accessing highly sensitive data, but Microsoft bypasses this by using engineers in China and elsewhere to remotely instruct American “escorts” who may lack expertise to identify malicious code.

Your data is everywhere. The government is buying it without a warrant

Data brokers buy up huge amounts of information from cell phones and browsers to sell for targeted advertising. But the government, including ICE, also buys the data.

We Shouldn’t Wait Another Fifteen Years for a Conversation About

With high-profile hacks in the headlines and government officials trying to reopen a long-settled debate about encryption, information security has become a mainstream issue. But we feel that one

GPG Key Transition Statement - Michael Altfield's Tech Blog

After 8 years, I’ve decided to transition from my original GPG key and replace it with one that uses a stronger master key that meets NIST guidelines. Over 8 years ago–probably while lounging in my tiny dorm room in engineering school–I decided that I wanted the ability to communicate with my friends & family privately. I decided that I wanted the ability to encrypt my emails. I decided to generate a gpg key. In 2009–4 years before Edward Snowden unveiled that the US government was violating their own constitution by collecting & storing the internet activity of hundreds of millions of innocent US citizens–I generated & published my first gpg keypair. Since those teenage years, I graduated college with degrees in Computer Science and Secure Computing & Networking, worked for major tech firms, and begun working for the best independent journalism outlet in the US–Democracy Now! Though my colleagues, friends, & family infrequently used my gpg key in the past (don’t tell the NSA!), I finally work with a great team of people that take security seriously, and I’m using gpg to sign & encrypt my daily work emails. Unfortunately, my original master key was generated using gpg’s defaults . . . → Read More: GPG Key Transition Statement

Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers | TechCrunch

Microsoft shut down dozens of GitHub code repositories for Azure and AI coding tools after a reported hack.

It's Time To Leave Microsoft

Contrary to what you might believe from the title, this article isn't published to try to convince you to leave Microsoft (although, if you are still on the fence, please continue reading the section below); instead of providing you with a paralyzing amount of dystopian information that is already available

Understanding the Cryptographic Autonomy License

Why crypto software licenses need to protect user’s control of their keys.

“Paper Trail” Podcast: Microsoft’s “Digital Escorts” Left DOD Vulnerable to Chinese Hackers — ProPublica

A little-known Microsoft program allowed China-based engineers to service the U.S. government’s sensitive computer systems — until reporter Renee Dudley found out about it.

Can You Trust Your Computer? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation

Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call “trusted computing,” large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. (Microsoft's version of this scheme is called Palladium.) Proprietary programs have included malicious features before, but this plan would make it universal.

Microsoft joins group working to ‘cure’ open-source licensing issues

Microsoft is one of 10 companies now committed to work through open-source software licensing problems involving the GPL with customers before resorting to legal action.

Microsoft, I forgive you!

Microsoft is different now. The evil masterminds are all retired. No more Ballmer jumping around screaming for developers, developers, developers. No more Gates plotting monopoly schemes for world …