Nearly a year ago, we reported on a user called WingsofFury and his disagreement with Microsoft over the type of data stored in his SkyDrive. This prompted Microsoft to clarify its policies surrounding your data and privacy.
Regardless, Microsoft will continue to monitor its user’s content, to a point at least, and will act in whatever way(s) it deems necessary to see any and all illegal activities, utilising its services, stopped.
Well that’s exactly what’s happened to Florida resident David Stuart. In what was most likely mandatory security checks on its user’s data, Stuart’s account was flagged as suspicious by Microsoft’s internal security after finding over 3,000 images of “child erotica” had been uploaded.
The Tampa Bay Times has said:
On March 5, Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond, Wash., reported suspicious activity on David Stuart's SkyDrive account to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. The organization's "Cybertip reports" were then forwarded to the Central Florida Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which notified Largo police.
While not out and out pornographic, the images did contain young children wearing adult clothes and make-up. The originating sites of the images have been shut down. The uploads to SkyDrive were traced back to an IP address registered to Stuarts mobile home.
While Stuart has been jailed, with bail set at $75,000, his wife Sharon is standing by her husband. She has said:
He's a very loving father and a good provider to us. It's not true ….. Whatever happens, I'm staying with him. I'm looking forward to our third anniversary in November.
All the major technology giants – Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc – are required by federal law to report any possible or suspected child pornography stored on their storage applications and social media.
Source: Tampa Bay Times via WinBeta | Image courtesy of Microsoft
83 Comments - Add comment