Earlier this afternoon, just after work, and on an initial surf to catch up on the news via the InerWebs, up pops another explosive Eddie Snowden tidbit: Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users’ communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company’s own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by The Guardian.

Despite a marketing slogan of  “Your privacy is our priority,” Microsoft’s dealings with the NSA appear to be forked-tongued.

(Illustration found here).

There’s a laundry list of shit which ‘illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years,’ according to The Guardian. Amongst the items, Microsoft assisted the NSA in sucking up e-mails and even video via Skype.
Despite the ugly disclosures and the bullshit, this seemed to be the money quote from The Guardian piece:

The latest NSA revelations further expose the tensions between Silicon Valley and the Obama administration.
All the major tech firms are lobbying the government to allow them to disclose more fully the extent and nature of their co-operation with the NSA to meet their customers’ privacy concerns.
Privately, tech executives are at pains to distance themselves from claims of collaboration and teamwork given by the NSA documents, and insist the process is driven by legal compulsion.

Secrets can get sticky, especially if there’s ‘privacy concerns’ from the public, and because of Microsoft’s everywhere-presence, maybe could stir the public pot on government surveillance a little bit more.
Snowden sure opened a can of worms to the light of day, maybe.