Microsoft Wins Appeal on Email Stored Abroad

[Centurius]

 

Following an appeal to an earlier ruling that held Microsoft had to hand over emails stored on their servers abroad the US Court of Appeals for the Second District of New York today ruled that this information is in fact protected from search warrants.  

 

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A U.S. appeals court has quashed a search warrant that would have required Microsoft to disclose contents of emails stored on a server in Ireland, in a case that has broad ramifications for privacy, diplomatic relations and the ability of American companies to sell web services abroad.

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"We think Microsoft has the better of the argument," said Circuit Court Judge Sarah Carney, in an opinion written for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

The panel based its judgment on the 30-year-old U.S. Stored Communications Act. The act, Carney wrote, "does not authorize courts to issue and enforce against U.S.‐based service providers warrants for the seizure of customer e‐mail content that is stored exclusively on foreign servers." The opinion was posted Thursday.

 

 

The case was a major one for the tech sector with possible wide implications for future business potential, privacy regulations in other countries and in a weird twist even allow authorities in other countries to demand the handover of data stored in the US.

 

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The case has had the U.S. technology industry worried. American tech companies have said they will not be able to sell web-based applications and services abroad if they can’t keep U.S. officials from unilaterally seizing records stored in foreign countries. In addition, a ruling for the U.S. government, they said, could clear the way for foreign governments to order local companies to hand over data stored in the U.S.

Companies such as Accenture, Apple, Verizon and many others came out in support of Microsoft on this matter. 

 

The government's main position was that due to the nature of the warrants it was irrelevant where it was stored and that making this matter would mean giving criminals an easy way to evade it. This argument was upheld initially.

 

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The government countered that the location of records is irrelevant under the Stored Communications Act, which was passed as part of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act and was the law on which the court relied to issue the warrant. If territorial restrictions applied to SCA warrants it would be very easy for criminals to evade investigations, the government said.

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In April 2014, Judge Francis sided with the government, saying that the order to produce the emails stored in Ireland was "not a conventional warrant; rather, the order is a hybrid: part search warrant and part subpoena." It is obtained like a warrant, with a judge finding probable cause that the records requested would provide evidence of a crime, but it is executed like a subpoena, since it is served directly on the company and does not involve federal agents seizing and searching company servers.

"It has long been the law that a subpoena requires the recipient to produce information in its possession . . . regardless of the location of that information," Francis wrote.

 

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Personally while I can understand the case of the US government on this matter, national sovereignty is still an important concept that has been hit hard by the increasing digitalization of the world. A ruling that upholds sovereign borders, even on the internet, is vital for the ability of governments to protect their people from foreign power and the US government being allowed to do so would likely create precedent for governments a lot shadier such as China or Russia.

 

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3095829/microsoft-wins-appeal-over-us-government-access-to-emails-held-overseas.html

[Master Disaster]

In a major victory for common sense a manhatten appeals court has overturned a 2014 ruling that Microsoft must allow the DoJ access to any and all of its data, including that which is stored off American soil. 

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The US government cannot force Microsoft to give authorities access to the firm's servers located in other countries, a court has ruled.

 

The decision is being seen as a precedent for protecting the privacy of cloud computing services.

 

The US Department of Justice had wanted to access a server in Ireland, as part of an investigation into a drugs case.

 

The ruling, made by an appeals court, overturns an order granted by a court in Manhattan in 2014.

Of course the DoJ is unhappy with the ruling and is considering whether to go to the supreme court to try and get this new ruling overturned. 

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The DoJ said it was disappointed by the decision and was considering what it would do next. If it appeals, the case could then move to the US Supreme Court.

 

Microsoft said it welcomed the ruling.

 

"It makes clear that the US government can no longer seek to use its search warrants on a unilateral basis to reach into other countries and obtain the emails that belong to people of other nationalities," Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer, of Microsoft told the BBC.

 

"It tells people they can indeed trust technology as they move their information to the cloud," he said.

Microsoft thanked the companies that had backed its appeal, which included the likes of Amazon, Apple and Cisco.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36800334

 

Interesting that the courts took Microsofts side on this one, I wouldn't have expected that. Still I fully expect the DoJ to appeal and this to take another 2 years while it goes through Supreme Court. And if the DoJ fails there then they'll just get the NSA to steal the data. 

[paradigm249]

why does DoJ want the data? its just 99% porn... go to pornhub or i dunno 4chan?

 

and why does US has to know everything thats unrelated to them? are we becoming north earth (north korea) or something?

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, paradigm249 said:

why does DoJ want the data? its just 99% porn... go to pornhub or i dunno 4chan?

I believe the case started because they wanted access to user records stored in Ireland. Its sensitive personally identifiable info they want, not just meta data. 

[Simon771]

2 minutes ago, paradigm249 said:

why does DoJ want the data? its just 99% porn... go to pornhub or i dunno 4chan?

 

and why does US has to know everything thats unrelated to them? are we becoming north earth (north korea) or something?

With those data, they could locate criminals.

[paradigm249]

2 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

With those data, they could locate criminals.

they have NSA and still fails more then north korea's space project, least i havent read anything about they finding any criminals with NSA. i dont what its meant for, but they are aleready spying on people secretly when that wasnt enough, cant get just get a hot air balloon and grab and some binoculars and start looking around? there are also satalites all over the damn planet they can use but i dont think they can zoom in far enough. 

[Simon771]

2 minutes ago, paradigm249 said:

they have NSA and still fails more then north korea's space project, least i havent read anything about they finding any criminals with NSA. i dont what its meant for, but they are aleready spying on people secretly when that wasnt enough, cant get just get a hot air balloon and grab and some binoculars and start looking around? there are also satalites all over the damn planet they can use but i dont think they can zoom in far enough. 

They can zoom in pretty good.

And still I don't understand all that fuss about privacy. I don't care if they are monitoring what I'm doing, because I have nothing to hide.

But that just how I see it

[paradigm249]

6 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

They can zoom in pretty good.

And still I don't understand all that fuss about privacy. I don't care if they are monitoring what I'm doing, because I have nothing to hide.

But that just how I see it

i dunno why im making this such a big deal but i dont want them to know im watching... porn... not like i do that but. still burning tax money on something pointless. more usefull to spend it on schools. and i know some people value their privacy alot like barnacules nerdgasm, least what i have heard so far. oh what do i expect, its 2016, even the seagulls could be plotting a assualt on us

 

edit: i spoke too soon 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

According to America, every country is under their jurisdiction.

[paradigm249]

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

According to America, every country is under their jurisdiction.

well shit... even north korea?

[captain cactus]

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

According to America, every country is under their jurisdiction.

According to a recent bill passed in the EU, America is wrong in that regard.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 minutes ago, paradigm249 said:

well shit... even north korea?

Explains why they're in every ones' business. If they really wanted peace then they would have the brains to have tighter checks to make sure every citizen owning a gun is a law-abiding gun owner.

[Simon771]

4 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

According to America, every country is under their jurisdiction.

 

3 minutes ago, lots of unexplainable lag said:

According to a recent bill passed in the EU, America is wrong in that regard.

 

LinusTechTips: your daily source of fun!

[paradigm249]

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Explains why they're in every one's business. If they really wanted peace then they would have the brains to have tighter checks to make sure every citizen owning a gun is a law-abiding gun owner.

if USA wanted peace the would have given everyone on earth guns (sarcasm)

edit: rethinking about it could but true. never knows

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

1 minute ago, paradigm249 said:

if USA wanted peace the would have given everyone on earth guns (sarcasm)

All the bad guys would be gone (as well 50% of the good guys).

[paradigm249]

2 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

All the bad guys would be gone (as well 50% of the good guys).

airport security check in a nutshell 

 

[Fetzie]

40 minutes ago, paradigm249 said:

well shit... even north korea?

ESPECIALLY North Korea

[themctipers]

murica'

stop trying to police other countries for your gain

-everyone outside of the us

[paradigm249]

14 minutes ago, Fetzie said:

ESPECIALLY North Korea

feeling kinda sceptical on that...

[laminutederire]

1 hour ago, Simon771 said:

With those data, they could locate criminals.

Or with those datas they could know what shoes your mother wants to buy. They would have the keys to people private lives.

[paradigm249]

3 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

Or with those datas they could know what shoes your mother wants to buy. They would have the keys to people private lives.

she will buy high heels. thats for sure, and keys to their private life could be a bad thing, if one goes corrupt like ... i dunno south korea(just a joke, refrence to north vs south korea)? they could leak it or sell it for £££ or $$$ or cocanium or graphic cards(damn you LTT and your pool of graphic cards(also a joke)) or a couple LTT t-shirt or what ever they want.

[laminutederire]

1 minute ago, paradigm249 said:

she will buy high heels. thats for sure, and keys to their private life could be a bad thing, if one goes corrupt like ... i dunno south korea(just a joke, refrence to north vs south korea)? they could leak it or sell it for £££ or $$$ or cocanium or graphic cards(damn you LTT and your pool of graphic cards(also a joke)) or a couple LTT t-shirt or what ever they want.

Maybe the US government want to get cash that way. Their information services are quite bad considering the budget they have, so maybe they try to have even more money, believing it'll make things better, because... yeah more money is always the answer nowadays.

[paradigm249]

2 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

Maybe the US government want to get cash that way. Their information services are quite bad considering the budget they have, so maybe they try to have even more money, believing it'll make things better, because... yeah more money is always the answer nowadays.

apparently yes, unless your a lonely boy looking for something have their private time with ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). or you can pay 50 dollars an hour at your local strip club

[paradigm249]

2 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

The govt should've stayed shut in Oct 2013

they forgot to unplug the startup button

[Teddy07]

It´s a joke. US Government simply sends a NSL to Microsoft and they comply without even asking questions. Americans spy on everyone in order to gain economic and political advantages.