Man sues Microsoft over porn surfing history

A US citizen is suing Microsoft for $200,000 after Internet Explorer failed to delete his history of pornography sites.

Michael Alan Crooker bought an HP computer running Windows XP and Internet Explorer from retailer Circuit City, and said that he was assured it would protect his privacy.

But when he was arrested on firearms charges, police cracked the PC's security and found his internet surfing history, along with videos of himself and his girlfriend engaged in sexual acts.

Crooker used a common security utility known as DriveLock which shuts down the hard drive if a password is not given.

But the FBI were able to bypass this by taking a mirror image of his hard drive which revealed his complete internet history, despite Internet Explorer being set to delete all records every five days.

"Any day beyond those parameters is supposed to be permanently deleted and is not supposed to be recoverable," Crooker stated in the lawsuit.

He added that he suffered "great embarrassment" over the details and other information found on the computer.

Crooker is now suing Microsoft for $200,000 and claims to have already reached settlements in similar cases with HP and Circuit City.

The man is currently residing in a Connecticut jail awaiting trial for selling illegally modified firearms and possessing bomb-making equipment.

See also:

Web giants accused of privacy violations

Privacy International criticises Amazon, Friends Reunited and eBay  01 Sep 2006

Privacy group offers tips on anonymous searching

How to search the web and retain your confidentiality  18 Aug 2006

Privacy group raps AOL over data leak

Electronic Frontier Foundation asks Federal Trade Commission to investigate  16 Aug 2006

Google's Wi-Fi plans spark privacy fears

Electronic Frontier Foundation questions free wireless internet access service  11 Apr 2006

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