Microsoft forced to turn over Ireland emails, says judge

[Transcendence]

 

 

In the latest in what amounts to a huge controversy over the rights of individuals regarding email and cloud accounts and the post-Snowden era, arrives a case involving an Ireland resident whose emails and cloud data can be accessed due to a search warrant that was approved in December. Judge Loretta A. Preska ruled that Microsoft must hand over the emails of a Dublin, Ireland resident – even if the resident and the individual’s email are located in Ireland.

For Preska, the heart of the matter concerns the person or entity in control of the information (that being Microsoft). Since Microsoft is an American company, an American court could require Microsoft to provide the information despite the location of the resident in question.

Microsoft expressed its outrage at Preska’s ruling, saying that “We will appeal promptly and continue to advocate that people’s email privacy deserves strong protection in the US and around the world,†said Vice President Brad Smith.

Microsoft lawyer E. Joshua Rosenkranz made a case against the government’s ruling, with Rosenkranz saying that giving the US control in the US to obtain the records of an Ireland resident would do nothing more than provide a reason for other countries to spy on Americans in the future. After all, if the US can reach over to Ireland to collect information, who’s to say that international countries can’t reach over to America to collect information on an American or international resident?