Microsoft: Responding to government legal demands for customer data

  • 29 April 2014
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A landmark court decision for ISPs and IT companies

 
Microsoft will be forced to hand customer data including bank details and emails to the US government after a search warrant was upheld on Friday, even though the information is stored on a server in Dublin.
The company had challenged the warrant on the basis that the US government should not be able to search information stored entirely on overseas servers.
But a New York Magistrate, Judge James Francis, ruled that Microsoft and other ISPs including Google could not refuse to hand over customer data even if the information was held on foreign soil.
 
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Bypassing Irish and EU laws, excellent news :@
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I can see both sides of this issue.  On the one hand if they'd ruled the other way, then corporations can hide data offshore to keep it from regulators.  But I also don't like the precedent of the US throwing their weight around.  I think the biggest issue is with multi-national corporations and how they can play countries off against each other - we need a solution for that problem.
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The following is a update to legal demands  for customer data
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Update/ Microsoft rebuffs U.S. demand for emails held overseas

 
By John RibeiroJune 11, 2014 06:30 AM ET Summary/IDG News Service - Microsoft has in a landmark case challenged in U.S. federal court a search warrant for private email communications located in the company's facility in Dublin, Ireland, after a magistrate judge quashed in April its opposition to the warrant.
The company like many others in the technology industry are concerned that the U.S. government's demands for data held abroad could spook customers abroad from their cloud and other services.
 
ComputerWorld/ Full Read Here/ http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249016/Microsoft_rebuffs_U.S._demand_for_emails_held_overseas
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The following another update on legal demands for customer data
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Microsoft battles US search warrant requesting customer emails stored abroad
 
Author/ Zeljka Zorz/ HNS Managing Editor/ posted 11 june 2014

 
Summary/ Microsoft is battling a search warrant that could have a great impact on the future of US tech companies in the global market.

Late last year, a federal magistrate judge in New York has granted prosecutors a search warrant in a drug case that would force Microsoft to hand over to the feds a customer’s email stored in their Dublin data center.

 
Help Net Security/ Full Read Here/http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=16994

 
 
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The following article is a update on Microsoft releasing customer data.
 
(Microsoft ordered to turn over customer data stored in the cloud)
 
 
By Jaikumar VijayanAugust 1, 2014 05:57 AM E
 
Computerworld - In a decision that could have broad privacy implications, a federal court in New York Thursday ordered Microsoft to comply with a U.S. government demand for a customer's emails stored on a company server in Dublin, Ireland. The decision upholds an earlier magistrate court decision.
In an oral ruling, District Court Judge Loretta Preska rejected Microsoft's argument that a U.S search warrant does not extend beyond the country's borders.
"The production of that information is not an intrusion on the foreign sovereign," Courthouse News reported Judge Preska as saying. "It is incidental at best," Preska noted, adding that the magistrate court order was not an extra territorial application of U.S. law.
The judge however stayed the ruling to give Microsoft time to appeal.
 
ComputerWorld/ Full Article Here/ http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9250102/Microsoft_ordered_to_turn_over_customer_data_stored_in_the_cloud
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Defying Feds, MS tries to keep user data private

http://windowssecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Woody-Leonhard_avatar_1398185581-100x100.pngBy Woody Leonhard on December 18, 2014 in Top StoryMicrosoft is currently fighting a federal search warrant demanding that the company release emails stored in Ireland.
Here’s why you should be extremely concerned by a U.S. court’s actions — and what you can do about it.
I’ll start with a brief history of the case.
In December 2013, having been shown probable cause, Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York James Francis issued a search warrant ordering Microsoft to disclose the contents of a specific @msn.com email account. (A copy of the warrant and related documents discussed below are posted on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s site.)
While preparing to comply with the warrant, Microsoft discovered that only the account holder’s name, email address, country, and similar information were stored in Microsoft’s U.S.-based servers. The true subjects of the search — the emails — actually sat in a server in Dublin, Ireland (most likely because the person who set up the account told Microsoft that he or she lived outside the U.S.).
As required by the warrant, Microsoft disclosed the details of the account to federal investigators/attorneys — but it refused to divulge the content of the emails because, according to Microsoft, it was outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
Microsoft filed a motion to quash, but on April 25, Judge Francis denied the motion (EFF posting).
 
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Daniel 😉

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