A man awaiting trial for alleged gun crimes is suing Microsoft
for privacy violations after FBI agents seized his home computer
during a raid and found files containing sexually explicit videos
of him and his girlfriend and evidence that he frequented
pornographic Web sites.
Michael Alan Crooker, currently in jail in Connecticut, says
security features advertised by Microsoft and its business partners
should have kept federal agents from accessing the files on his PC.
In court papers filed this week in Massachusetts Superior Court,
Crooker says he "suffered great embarrassment" as a result of
Microsoft's failure to keep the FBI's prying eyes off his
computer.
He is suing the software maker for $200,000 in compensatory and
punitive damages.
Crooker purchased a Compaq Presario PC loaded with Windows XP,
Internet Explorer, and several security utilities in 2002 at a
Circuit City in Holyoke, Mass. Crooker, in court papers, says he
"felt secure in Circuit City's claims of impenetrability and
security."
Things took a turn, however, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms agents raided Crooker's home in June 2004 as part of an
investigation into the sale of an air rifle equipped with a
silencer and seized his computer. Unable to crack the PC's security
features, the agents sent it to the FBI's Cryptologic and
Electronic Analysis unit, court records say.
At the FBI lab, agents were able to access Crooker's files by
making a mirror image of the hard drive. Among the files, they
found a video showing Crooker and his girlfriend having sex, his
medical records, family photographs, and correspondence between
Crooker and his attorneys. They also found Internet history files
that showed Crooker's fondness for pornographic Web sites.
Crooker says he had set Internet Explorer to delete his Internet
history every five days. "Any day beyond those parameters is
supposed to be permanently deleted and is not supposed to be
recoverable," Crooker says in the lawsuit. He also claims Compaq's
DriveLock security system should have prevented the FBI from
accessing his hard drive.
In the court papers, Crooker says he already has reached
settlements with Hewlett-Packard, which owns the Compaq brand, and
Circuit City.
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LOL... I didn't know like that also can. US people really very
creative in terms of lawsuits. 
