Microsoft to Let Foreign Customers to Store Data Overseas - Bloomberg

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will allow overseas customers to have their personal data stored outside the U.S., a response to concerns about allegations of U.S. government spying, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said today.

Smith told the Financial Times in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that while other technology companies oppose the idea, it's become necessary following leaks about the U.S. National Security Agency's data-collection programs. A spokeswoman for Microsoft confirmed his comments.

The move comes as technology companies from Microsoft to Google Inc. (GOOG) grapple with customer concerns after revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Details about the extent of NSA spying have "created a crisis of confidence" when it comes to users trusting U.S. Internet companies and undermines potential economic growth, Kevin Bankston, policy director for the Washington-based Open Technology Institute, told reporters on a conference last week.

In a panel discussion earlier today in Davos, Smith told the audience that Microsoft doesn't turn over information stored in its data centers and requires requests made by governments to go through the due process of law.

"We have never turned over to any government any information that belongs to another business, another government or an NGO," said Smith. "It is not our right, no one elected us, to simply decide to turn over someone's information."

To contact the reporters on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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