Microsoft joined other prominent names in the technology industry in criticizing the controversial "Spying on Kiwis" Bill in Thursday's Law and Order Select Committee in Parliament held in New Zealand. The software developer said that the bill could possibly halt any investments and ventures from the United States in the country.

The ciritcized legislation was the Telecommunications Interception Capability and Security Bill, which was initially introduced two months ago. According to the drafted law, network operators must help the New Zealand government, without question or appeal, in interception of information which the country deems of "interest to national security."

Other tech firms have already submitted into the Bill, such as Huawei, Vodafone, Microsoft, Facebook, and Vodafone. Google, however, explained that the bill is in direct conflict with an existing United States legal arrangement.

Microsoft's cloud based software service of Office 365 boasted its strongest performance in the New Zealand market recently. This growth prompted the company to expand its services in the country with the indtroduction of the SharePoint store to local consumers. Analysts explained that the consumers' shift to mobile and portable computing increased the demand for cloud services such as SharePoint. "We've already seen strong momentum for the apps in the Office and SharePoint Store, with nearly 1 million downloads," commented an Office Blog writer.