Microsoft to Blame For Leaked FTC Documents, Judge Says

Microsoft’s lawyers and PR team have been having a stressful week, and it just got a lot worse. Sensitive documents related to the company’s cloud gaming plans, Xbox Series X refresh, and even Google’s Stadia failure leaked Monday during a legal proceeding with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and a federal judge says Microsoft itself is responsible. 

According to a filing submitted by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the court ordered both the FTC and Microsoft to submit trial exhibits with redactions via “secure cloud link” on Sept. 7. On Sept. 14, Microsoft offered up its link, and the court uploaded the exhibits inside to a public web page that exists specifically for the case. Unbeknownst to the court, those exhibits contained sensitive information that Microsoft failed to censor.

Given the publicity around Microsoft’s current battle with the FTC, it was only a matter of time before those non-redacted documents circulated on the internet. Thanks to Microsoft’s forgetfulness, we now have information about the company’s hybrid cloud Xbox plans and its Series X revamp, the latter of which Xbox head Phil Spencer said Microsoft wouldn’t do. (Note: IGN is owned by Ziff Davis, ExtremeTech’s parent company.) We even have details about how Google screwed up Stadia, ultimately leading to the cloud gaming service’s downfall. 

Credit: Sebastian DC/Unsplash

Microsoft has since informed the court which documents were non-public, resulting in those documents’ removal. But virtually nothing disappears from the internet forever, especially when it involves juicy details about a massive company’s future product offerings. “We've seen the conversation around old emails and documents,” Spencer posted on X Tuesday. “It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed, and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.”

Meanwhile, the FTC is likely relieved at Judge Corley’s confirmation of its innocence, which the agency’s public affairs director attempted to convey on Tuesday. “The FTC was not responsible for uploading Microsoft’s plans for its games and consoles to the court website,” Douglas Farrar posted on X.  

Judge Corley’s filing orders Microsoft and the FTC to re-submit their trial exhibits via a new secure cloud link by Sept. 22. Also, both parties must file a signed certification verifying they’ve reviewed the submitted exhibits and confirmed that they don’t contain non-public information.