[ABS]

he might have been naive, stupid even, but definitely not to blame: they effectively broke the law.

IANAL and I'm not based in US but I would guess the only way to do this legally would be for MS to go to a law-enforcement agency, the agency would need to get a warrant and then the agency would be able to look into it, not MS itself.

[throwawayaway]

What law would deter them from doing so? They are microsoft's computers. I'm sure the EULA has them covered legally, and I bet they asked their legal team before going in.

[ABS]

there are constitutional guarantees on the secrecy of correspondence and email is considered (by the law) the same as letters therefore legally protected from all forms of eavesdropping.

contracts are not above the law, if a contracts stipulates something illegal it doesn't matter that both parties agreed to it

[throwawayaway]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secrecy_of_correspondence

This seems to disagree with you, seems you are required to litigate to get your rights. The blogger was french also, so that probably has a bearing on what rights he has.

[mcintyre1994]

Him being from Europe makes this worse to me. Why isn't this reason enough to void Microsoft's safe harbor guarantees for the Data Protection Act? I'm sure they're all rubbish, but Microsoft are provably not protecting European rights here and I wish somebody forced these companies to take it seriously.

[ABS]

not so simple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Communications_Priva...

[throwawayaway]

That's for federal agencies and a third party's server. Considering microsoft are not a third party, not a federal agency and it's their own server, I don't think that law is relevant.

[pionar]

Microsoft's Online Services agreement (covers Hotmail)[0]:

Does Microsoft disclose my personal information outside of Microsoft? You consent and agree that Microsoft may access, disclose, or preserve information associated with your use of the services, including (without limitation) your personal information and content, or information that Microsoft acquires about you through your use of the services (such as IP address or other third-party information) when Microsoft forms a good faith belief that doing so is necessary (a) to comply with applicable law or to respond to legal process from competent authorities; (b) to enforce this agreement or protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers; or (c) to help prevent a loss of life or serious physical injury to anyone.

Notice the bit about "protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers".

[0] http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/microsoft-se...