The secret-document revealing site, Cryptome, managed to get back online on Thursday, after Microsoft rolled back a copyright complaint that had lead to the site's closing the day before.

Microsoft's attempts to suppress a document on how to subpoena online user data, it seems, backfired, and this lead to widespread attention to, and republication of, the document instead.

In a statement released on Thursday, Microsoft refused to apologize, while fiercely defending its use of the copyright law in order to keep its law enforcement manual private.

"Like all service providers, Microsoft must respond to lawful requests from law enforcement agencies to provide information related to criminal investigations. We take our responsibility to protect our customers’ privacy very seriously, so have specific guidelines that we use when responding to law enforcement requests. In this case, we did not ask that this site be taken down, only that Microsoft copyrighted content be removed", the company said.

Earlier this week, Cryptome’s proprietor John Young had published the 22-page-long document, which led to Microsoft initiating legal action on Tuesday.