Here is Bob Cesca's take on the Microsoft "bombshell" followed by the "Dead Man Switch" threat.

To dip a toe in this, Greenwald is more of a pundit with a cause and a lawyer background than an investigative journalist. The Snowden bit got dropped in his lap - he didn't dig it out.

Releasing the letters from Humphrey is very much within Greenwald's usual tone and activity.  Much of what Greenwald does is issue activism, like trying to point to Portugal's successful experiment with drug decriminalization.

From PCMag:

Microsoft did add HTTPS encryption to Outlook.com instant messaging to secure those messages as they travel across the Internet. But, according to Smith, "we do not provide any government with the ability to break the encryption, nor do we provide the government with the encryption keys. When we are legally obligated to comply with demands, we pull the specified content from our servers where it sits in an unencrypted state, and then we provide it to the government agency."

Otay, so I guess "encrypted" means "partially encrypted" - so how often does Microsoft receive and respond to these requests, does it ever refuse, how well are government requests reviewed and authroized (rather than their gold standard 99%+ FISA approval rubber stamp).

To Microsoft's credit, it wants to talk but can't. However, the drips of detail is uncomfortable:

CNET reported last Friday that the U.S. government has threatened Internet companies with installing surveillance devices on their networks if they do not help with surveillance requests.

The article disclosed that Microsoft had created a wiretap compliance system to respond to legal orders for surveillance directed at Hotmail accounts -- a process that prevented government surveillance devices from being installed. The government has previously installed surveillance devices on networks owned by Verizon Business and EarthLink.

Microsoft has asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to disclose "aggregate statistics" regarding the number of FISA orders it receives, including orders feeding into PRISM. That request (PDF) was filed on June 19. The Justice Department has been delaying the proceedings, initially saying it would respond by July 9 and then asking (PDF) for a deadline extension to July 23.