Microsoft has developed a USB plug-in device that cops can use to quickly extract "forensic data" from computers--running Windows, of course. (hat tip B.)
Via email, a Microsoft spokeswoman said COFEE is a compilation of publicly available forensics tools, such as "password security auditing technologies" used to access information "on a live Windows system." She cited rainbow tables as an example of other such tools, and "was NOT confirming that COFEE includes Rainbow Tables." [meaning it does]
It "does not circumvent Windows Vista BitLocker encryption or undermine any protections in Windows through secret 'backdoors' or other undocumented means." [ri-i-ight]
Further, she reiterated that the tool is intended for use "by law enforcement only with proper legal authority." [ri-i-ght]
Moronically Obvious Social Observation in the Service of Sucking Up to Government Award of the year (so far) goes to Microsoft's General Counsel Brad Smith:
Smith compared the Internet of today to London and other Industrial Revolution cities in the early 1800s. As people flocked from small communities where everyone knew each other, an anonymity emerged in the cities and a rise in crime followed.