Microsoft Condemns U.S. Government in Latest Video Ad

[RH00D]

Microsoft today released a video ad on their YouTube channel condemning the U.S. for trying to compel Microsoft to hand over emails via a valid U.S. search warrant. Except the emails are stored entirely within Ireland, not the U.S.

 

 

Other companies in the tech sector are siding with Microsoft, too. Apple, AT&T, Cisco, and Verizon all agree with Microsoft. Verizon said (PDF) that a decision favoring the US would produce "dramatic conflict with foreign data protection laws." Apple and Cisco said (PDF) that the tech sector is put "at risk" of being sanctioned by foreign governments and that the US should seek cooperation with foreign nations via treaties, a position the US said is not practical.

 

The Justice Department said global jurisdiction is necessary in an age when "electronic communications are used extensively by criminals of all types in the United States and abroad, from fraudsters to hackers to drug dealers, in furtherance of violations of US law."

 

Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said in a blog post Monday that the company's invocation of the Stadtpolizei analogy underscores that if the US prevails, "how can it complain if foreign agents require tech companies to download e-mails stored in the US? This is a question the Department of Justice hasn’t yet addressed, much less answered."

The senior counsel for the Irish Supreme Court wrote in a lower court filing that a US-Ireland "Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty" was the "efficient" avenue (PDF) for the US government to obtain the e-mail held on Microsoft's servers in Dublin, Ireland.

 

The appeals court on Tuesday ordered the US to respond by March 9. No hearing date has been set.

 

Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/microsoft-tells-us-the-worlds-servers-are-not-yours-for-the-taking/

Source: http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2014/12/15/141215-Microsoft-Privacy.aspx

[Ace Lean]

Put em in the spotlight!!!

[Sidiox]

Good guy Microsoft. I hope they can have some influence

[dlf]

(Most?) US laws could probably do with reform(s) . . .

[zacRupnow]

I don't even care about their gaming on PC hole, for me this means they stopped digging.

[cesrai]

Wont make a difference people will ignore it, MS will get fined until they get on their knees, but Good guy MS this is awesome.

[Markmjb]

It's just time for organisations like the UN to provide binding statements about internet privacy and such.

Internet is indeed everywhere, and although countries should be able to restrict access to certain parts of it individually, it makes no sense there is no 1 universal internet law, to be followed by all countries.

[Deserter15]

Legally, there's is nothing for the US government to do without that treaty.  Great Job MS. I almost would forgive yo for the buggy windows 8! (almost)

[AlexGoesHigh]

It's just time for organisations like the UN to provide binding statements about internet privacy and such.

Internet is indeed everywhere, and although countries should be able to restrict access to certain parts of it individually, it makes no sense there is no 1 universal internet law, to be followed by all countries.

the UN are a bunch of asshats that does whatever favors the us gov, when was the last time they did something significant that favored anyone that wasn't the us or eu

[Markmjb]

the UN are a bunch of asshats that does whatever favors the us gov, when was the last time they did something significant that favored anyone that wasn't the us or eu

 

Well than , I guess I'll ask that other worldwide organisation for it 

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

 

Good job, MS !

[dragosudeki]

US is losing a lot of relation with the tech companies... Is this going to be hitting the jobs there and stuff?

[MoonSpot]

But it was a warrant and not via carte blanche self appointed power of the NSA or whatever.  Are they(silicon valley) just trying to trail on the bullshit and make the public and government run in circles?  Just a few months ago the complaint was that there should be warrants and not an all powerful organization, to which i agree.

Do we want a Ireland to be the Swiss bank of data to protect the elite?

 

If they want to see E-mail have the same laws protecting it that snail mail has. I am all for it.  But as far as where the data is stored, when it can be accessed at the speed of light, doesn't seem relevant what so ever.

Where the owner of that data is, is of more interest to me.  There seems to be a bit of social engineering here coming out of the MS camp as far as I can tell.

[Gumi Rokkaku]

Good for Microsoft.

[Tocsin_786]

i feel like once the tech companies loose complete hope for this government they are under. they will pack their bags and leave. the other things that also leave will be hundreds and thousands of jobs. and for someone who will soon be going into the field, this is quite scary. 

[Trik'Stari]

get on em about net neutrality while your at it microsoft.

[CornOnJacob]

the UN are a bunch of asshats that does whatever favors the us gov, when was the last time they did something significant that favored anyone that wasn't the us or eu

The only thing keeping the US in check is the Russian/Chinese vetoes. The only thing keeping Russia in check is the US veto. To top it off, the UN is pretty powerless anyway.The whole thing is so broken.

[Nic]

Whilst i do agree with Microsoft on this one, this situation might not of happened if they had not been pushing every one to centralize their data with them and had instead designed their products so that the user can control their data.

To do this they could simply do what mega has done and encryption so that even they cant see what is stored on their servers or they could have software available to host your own outlook (Hotmail) and one drive servers.

[WelshDdraig]

Good Guys Microsoft. It's about time somebody/ a company stood up and argue that laws need to be updated. Granted, I'm from the UK, not US, but what is to stop the UK to request information from America (as an example)? Nothing, the UK just follows America's lead. What ever the US government does, the UK isn't far behind following their action. 

[LlamaDom]

Is it just me, or does the narrator sound like Ed Milliband...

[rockking1379]

i think this is one of those things that many people will stand behind microsoft on. if he data was in a us data center, then sure its on american soil take and gtfo. but this shit is no where near the us border, so government can gtfo and leave with nothing. or microsoft should notify the user, ask them what they would like to do, and then charge the government for the process of retrieving it at a rate of a million dollars an hour, plus ten grand per bit. then limit the connection stream so that it takes about three years to download oh the joys i would get out of that...

[ilikemacandpc]

We're making progress. The more these big companies speak out against these invasions of privacy, the better off we'll be. 

Go Microsoft! Now, Apple and Google must fight in step. 

[hal9001]

USA! Why you gotta be so ruuuuuuuude?

[AstroZombie1]

That cable management...... 

[Techhog]

I think we all know what Microsoft's real reason for this is (and I expect a rant from a certain someone to remind us), but we need big tech companies to make statements like this. I'll give it a pass.