I don't think that many people here are naive enough to believe that any business would fight the government for the sake of its customers. I think most of us are simply appalled by this blatantly malicious behavior. I'm not buying all these "but what if the user is an illiterate, senile 90-year-old with ADHD, huh?" attempts to rationalize it away. it's the equivalent of the guy who installed your door keeping a copy of your keys by unspoken default - "what if your toddler locks himself out, huh?"

I know the police can just break down my door, but that doesn't mean I should be ok with some random asshole having my keys.

Assume good intent. If Microsoft didn't escrow the keys, the next HN post would be "mIcR0SofT Ate mY chILDhooD pHOTos!!"