Microsoft has promised to strengthen the process it would follow before undertaking investigations into the Hotmail and Outlook accounts of its users, VentureBeat reported.

The assurance came from the blog post of John Frank, Microsoft's Deputy General Counsel & Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs. Frank issued the clarification after complaints arose on the news that Microsoft had looked into the Hotmail account of a blogger without a court order as part of its investigation on the information they had received that a Microsoft employee was providing the blogger with stolen intellectual property.

After explaining the circumstances that led into the investigation of the blogger's Hotmail account, Frank then gave the steps that Microsoft was going to observe to strengthen their policies on the matter. First of all, the company will "not conduct a search of customer email and other services unless the circumstances would justify a court order, if one were available." Then, it will have a separate legal team and a former federal judge evaluate the evidence and would only proceed with the search if the judge would also agree with the legal team that evidence presented would warrant a court order. The third step is for the company to limit the search to the matter being investigated on and that it be done with the supervision of counsel. Finally, Microsoft will provide "the data on the number of these searches that have been conducted and the number of customer accounts that have been affected" in their bi-annual transparency report.

VentureBeat reported that Microsoft having access to the email of their users is not something new. The report quoted part of the Terms of Service of Hotmail which read, "We may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the Service; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public."