Re: Other media options are available.
"Because what you're suggesting is probably illegal and akin to a ransomware."
No. Basically it does what a landlord is entitled to do in the circumstances - distrain the debtor's property, in this case the data - but in a way that makes the administrators responsible for the storage avoiding accruing further debts. The payment being sought is what MS claim to be entitled to anyway, clearly different from a ransom for which there is no legal basis. If a court decides that the debt wasn't valid then the key can be handed over.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
