Microsoft vs. DoJ: The battle for privacy in the cloud

 
 
What issue can unite the EFF and BSA? Fox News and The Guardian? Amazon and eBay? The ACLU and the Chamber of Commerce?
The issue is the demand by the Department of Justice that Microsoft deliver the email correspondence and address book data from one of their customers as demanded by a warrant, apparently related to a drugs case (although all the documents remain sealed). Microsoft won't. The reason? The customer, the email, and the server it's on are all in Ireland and operated by a local subsidiary.
 
Microsoft asserts that private correspondence that's never involved the U.S. is outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. It claims that if the government wants that data, the right way to get it is not a domestic warrant but rather the exercise of a treaty agreement between the U.S. and Irish governments. The New York District Court disagreed in April, asserting that it's all just business data and, as Microsoft is a U.S. company and wholly owns the Irish subsidiary in question, a simple domestic warrant is enough. In July, the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court agreed, and in September Microsoft was held in contempt of the court (at its own request) so they could progress to the Supreme Court.
 
 
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