Microsoft Gets A Day In Court And Wins On Email Privacy

In the latest salvo in the battle between consumer privacy and the government’s right to data as evidence in criminal cases, Microsoft won a major skirmish.

As reported by several media outlets on Friday (July 15), a United States federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. government cannot, in fact, compel Microsoft — and, importantly, other companies — to hand over emails that have been residing on servers outside the United States.

The unanimous 3-0 decision is a legal landmark, as Reuters noted, because it “is a defeat for the U.S. Department of Justice and a victory for privacy advocates.” It also helps technology brethren operating around the world via cloud computing. Simply put, servers outside the U.S. — and the data stored on them — are beyond the reach of U.S.-issued search warrants that are issued under the 30-year-old Stored Communications Act. The latest decision overturns an earlier ruling from 2014 against the tech giant that said Microsoft indeed did have to turn over the emails and that the firm had been in contempt of the law.

The decision traces its genesis to a case where a search warrant was issued for information stored by Microsoft on servers in Dublin, Ireland, which was sought by the U.S. in conjunction with a narcotics case.

Through its legal arm, Microsoft applauded the ruling and said in a statement that the “legal protections of the physical world apply in the digital domain.”

The case has been seen as a bellwether of sorts for tech firms that have been voicing concern over the potential ability of prosecutors to gain access to data lying beyond U.S. borders, which, in turn, would spur other countries to make it harder for U.S. companies to gain effective leverage to operate internationally. To that end, many tech firms, such as Amazon, Cisco and several media companies, filed briefs that supported Microsoft in its appeals efforts.

In what might presage efforts for companies, governments and law enforcement agencies to work together in tandem, outside of warrants, Reuters noted that the Justice Department has been looking to craft a bilateral plan between the U.S. and the U.K. to foster more collaboration in data-sharing efforts.