Microsoft claims that «opened» the Hotmail account of an anonymous blogger, as it is involved in a Windows 8 espionage case, because it was selling Windows Server activation keys.
Microsoft defended itself by calling its action «extraordinary» steps of a «limited review» of a blogger's Hotmail account, as part of a broader Windows espionage case, saying it had discovered the blogger selling Microsoft’s intellectual property without permission.
A deposition in court claims that the anonymous blogger had obtained the source code of Windows 8 RT before it was released, from the then Microsoft employee, Alex Kibkalo. Kibkalo is accused of stealing trade secrets.
The filing says Microsoft conducted an internal investigation into the blogger's actions after the blogger sent the source code to an anonymous person, hoping to verify its origin. Instead, that person notified then-Windows chief Steven Sinofsky, who passed the details on to Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing investigations division, which investigates external threats and internal information leaks.
The deposition (PDF) states that the anonymous blogger confessed to selling Microsoft intellectual property.
