News
Courts rule US cannot force Microsoft to hand over emails stored abroad - expert comments
July 2016 by Simon Crosby, CTO and co-founder at endpoint security firm, Bromium
The Microsoft corporation won a major legal battle yesterday against the United States Justice Department when a federal appeals court ruled that a warrant for a suspects data does not extend to information stored in overseas computers, handing a victory to privacy advocates. Circuit Judge Susan Carney said communications held by U.S service providers on servers outside the United States are beyond the reach of domestic search warrants, reversing a 2014 ruling by a US district court requiring Microsoft to turn over emails stored on a server in Dublin.
See below for comments from Simon Crosby, CTO and co-founder at Bromium, the pioneer of micro-virtualization and leader in endpoint security.
"Although privacy advocates will claim that this is a major win, it is really a win for the rule of law. Microsoft has long maintained that if the US Government wants data stored on a server in Ireland, it can do so by pursuing its claims through the Irish legal system. Microsoft’s position has been vindicated. This is an excellent outcome and we all owe Microsoft our gratitude for preventing the US Government from overreaching its authority. If it has succeeded here there would be negative effects on the tech industry, in particular cloud and SaaS providers - in effect a chilling consequence on the computing industry."
