Geek Tested:

Legal Fallout Begins in Microsoft Sidekick Screwup

Posted 10/15/09 at 02:31:16 PM by Bart Salisbury

Like we didn’t know this was going to happen. Last week Microsoft’s Danger unit experienced an outage, the result of which cost a lot of T-Mobile Sidekick users their email, contacts, calendars and other data. At first it was feared that the information was gone for good--a victim to the hubris over cloud computing. T-Mobile went so far as to halt sales of Sidekicks until the problem was resolved. Silver-linings what they are, Microsoft announced on October 15 that it believes it has recovered most of the Sidekick data initially feared lost.

But a lawsuit over the matter was an eventuality, regardless of what Microsoft or T-Mobile did after-the-fact. Sure enough, two class-action lawsuits have been filed in federal court against Microsoft and T-Mobile. Both contend that Microsoft and T-Mobile failed to exercise suitable care, and failed to securely and automatically back-up user data. T-Mobile has offered compensation to those affected: one month’s free Sidekick service and a $100 card, but that’s not good enough for plaintiff attorney Jay Edelson, who says this fails to “sufficiently compensate Sidekick users for this disastrous loss of data.” Neither Microsoft or T-Mobile have commented on the pending litigation.

Naturally, one has to wonder how Danger messed this up. You’d think, as a cautionary matter while using a new technology you’d have a secondary, more traditional back-up, system in place. I guess some lessons simply have to be learned the hard way.

Image Credit: Darren Sylvester/flickr

COMMENTS:6

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Too True....
Submitted by ghot on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 5:59pm

Cloud = Useless! There is no better way to protect YOUR data than to do it yourself...through...WIRES.

Cloud really = easy access and control over YOUR data by whomever owns/operates the servers. I'm really surprised that ANYone would buy into the Cloud idea, in the first place. Syre you can access your data anywhere, but so can anyone else :/

Take an OS, and edit out all the efficiency, and what you have left is a post-XP Microsoft operating system :)

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When are people going to
Submitted by Tekzel on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 12:42pm

When are people going to learn that living in a ridiculously litigious society has some serious consequences? I am responsible for MY data, no one else. I choose to put myself in a situation where someone elses failure causes me lost data. If I lose data, I have no one else to blame but myself.

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So your defintion of a
Submitted by compro01 on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 12:39pm

So your defintion of a "ridiculously ligitous society" is when people seek compensation for a contractual violation?

Microsoft is contractually responsible for your data per their contract with T-Mobile, and T-Mobile's contract with you.

People do use the US civil legal system for some screwy stuff, but this is not one of those cases.

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Conversely...
Submitted by 1337Goose on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 6:07pm

You're absolutely right. Logically, you wouldn't put your data anywhere where it would risk being deleted, and if you had mission critical data, you'd be a moron to not back it up somewhere safe.

However, from a legal standpoint, if you've entrusted Microsoft to take care of your data, you expect them to do a good job. If you let your friend borrow your favourite CD, and he destroys it, you'd damn well be pissed at him. It's not your fault that he destroyed it, because you trusted him. You had an agreement that if you let him borrow your CD, you'd get it back at some point.

But again, you'd be a fool to trust 100%.

~Goose

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I agree completely.....
Submitted by routine on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 1:06pm

This law suit is ridiculous.

It's getting to be the point where Microsoft/Apple/Intel/AMD/etc/etc/etc/etc cannot make a single move without getting sued.

What's the result of this?

Less technology. As the lawsuits mount up, companies will stop producing in fear of getting sued. Great job, America.

I blame our socialist/progressive government.

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hey that statement
Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 4:05pm

hey that statement infrinces on my rights to sue...i'll sue!

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