Comment by aprentic
7 hours ago
That's exactly what I mean.
If you tell people, "I'll take care of safeguarding your key for you," it sounds like you're just doing them a favor.
It would be more honest to say, "I can hold on to a copy of your key and automatically unlock your data when we think you need it opened," but that would make it too obvious that they might do so without your permission.
They're not doing them a favor. They're providing them a service.
Trust is a fundamental aspect of how the world works. It's a feature, not a bug.
Consider that e.g. your car mechanic, or domestic service (if you employ it), or housekeeping in hotel you stay, all have unsupervised access to some or all of your critical information and hardware. Yet, these people are not seen as threat actors by most people, because we trust them to not abuse that access, and we know there are factors at play to ensure that trust.
In this context, I see Microsoft as belonging to the cohort above for most people. Both MS and your house cleaner will turn over your things to police should they come knocking, but otherwise you can trust them to not snoop through your stuff with malicious intent. And if you don't trust them enough - don't buy their services.
I think most people would be ok with your second formulation too.
Maybe, maybe not.
The MSFT marketing folks seem to have opted for the less transparent one, just in case.