Microsoft’s criticisms of Google for scanning email to serve ads ring hollow with disclosures that the company probed a blogger’s email account. Will Microsoft’s TOS changes restore customer trust?

A former Microsoft employee is facing criminal prosecution for allegedly leaking prereleased Windows 8 software to a French blogger. Alex Kibkalo was arrested in Seattle on March 19, 2014 and charged with “theft of trade secrets” and is being held without bail.

It has been reported that Kibkalo was angry over a poor performance evaluation. However, the real story grabbing attention is the manner in which Microsoft identified Kibkalo as the alleged leaker. The company accessed Kibkalo’s email account and gave clarification that it was for security reasons and such terms of usage are accepted by users.

The issue worrying everyone isn’t that Microsoft is pursuing legal action against an ex-employee that may have been leaking binaries, or that it complies with subpoenas for information.

The major issue is that Microsoft’s public relations team sanctimoniously declared the company does not read your emails, when it’s on the record as having done so, and — until just recently — insisted in its EULA that the company reserved the right to do so.

Does the conduct of Microsoft in the Kibkalo case change your trust level in the company? If so, has your trust level gone up or gone down? Does it crush your confidence in cloud computing? Can cloud companies compensate for privacy and security concerns?