FBI gets charged $50-$200 for Microsoft’s user data

It is no secret that companies are allowed to charge government agencies if they wish to access certain information, such as customer data, but have you ever wondered how much companies actually charge? Well thanks to the Syrian Electronic Army, they have managed to obtained invoices from Microsoft that shows how much the company charges the FBI for providing them with customer information.

Microsoft often charges the FBI’s most secretive division hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to legally view customer information, according to documents allegedly hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. The SEA, a hacker group loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is best known for hijacking Western media companies’ social media accounts. (These companies include the Associated Press, CNN, NPR, and even the Daily Dot.) The SEA agreed to let the Daily Dot analyze the documents with experts before the group published them in full.