Closely Watched Case Could Have Expanded Government's Reach in Cloud Computing Age
Microsoft has prevailed after a U.S. appeals court reaffirmed the company does not have to turn over emails that are stored overseas to federal authorities investigating a crime. The closely watched case explored the territorial boundaries of U.S. law in the cloud computing age.
In a 4-4 decision on Jan. 24, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal government cannot request through a warrant any emails maintained outside the U.S. The court denied rehearing the case, which the government sought, although federal officials could now petition the Supreme Court.
The case tested the limits of the Stored Communications Act, passed by Congress in 1986, which outlines how the government can obtain electronic communications. The law does not address communications stored in another country.
In denying the rehearing, Circuit Judge Susan L. Carney wrote that the SCA is long overdue for a revision given today's data storage landscape and the needs of law enforcement. But the act as written - and in line with Supreme Court precedent - would not apply to data stored outside the U.S.
"Although the realities of electronic storage have widely outstripped what Congress envisioned in 1986, we are not so far from the context of the SCA that we can no longer apply it faithfully," Carney writes.
The technology industry widely backed Microsoft's resistance to turning over the emails, with support coming from companies including Salesforce.com, HP, Cisco, eBay and Verizon Communications.
In a statement provided to Information Security Media Group, Microsoft Chief Legal Office Brad Smith called on Congress to modernize the law in order to keep people safe and ensure that governments respect each other's borders. "This decision puts the focus where it belongs, on Congress passing a law for the future rather than litigation about an outdated statute from the past," Smith writes.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which backed Microsoft in the case, agreed that the SCA has not kept up with the times. "The technical and business infrastructure of electronic communications and data storage has changed; indeed, in the United States, our legal and social understandings of privacy, including the Fourth Amendment, have changed as well," Lee Tien, the EFF's senior staff attorney, tells ISMG.
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Microsoft Prevails in Case Involving Stored Emails
Microsoft has prevailed after a U.S. appeals court reaffirmed the company does not have to turn over emails that are stored overseas to federal authorities investigating a crime. The closely watched case explored the territorial boundaries of U.S. law in the cloud computing age.
In a 4-4 decision on Jan. 24, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal government cannot request through a warrant any emails maintained outside the U.S. The court denied rehearing the case, which the government sought, although federal officials could now petition the Supreme Court.
The case tested the limits of the Stored Communications Act, passed by Congress in 1986, which outlines how the government can obtain electronic communications. The law does not address communications stored in another country.
In denying the rehearing, Circuit Judge Susan L. Carney wrote that the SCA is long overdue for a revision given today's data storage landscape and the needs of law enforcement. But the act as written - and in line with Supreme Court precedent - would not apply to data stored outside the U.S.
"Although the realities of electronic storage have widely outstripped what Congress envisioned in 1986, we are not so far from the context of the SCA that we can no longer apply it faithfully," Carney writes.
The technology industry widely backed Microsoft's resistance to turning over the emails, with support coming from companies including Salesforce.com, HP, Cisco, eBay and Verizon Communications.
In a statement provided to Information Security Media Group, Microsoft Chief Legal Office Brad Smith called on Congress to modernize the law in order to keep people safe and ensure that governments respect each other's borders. "This decision puts the focus where it belongs, on Congress passing a law for the future rather than litigation about an outdated statute from the past," Smith writes.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which backed Microsoft in the case, agreed that the SCA has not kept up with the times. "The technical and business infrastructure of electronic communications and data storage has changed; indeed, in the United States, our legal and social understandings of privacy, including the Fourth Amendment, have changed as well," Lee Tien, the EFF's senior staff attorney, tells ISMG.
more
Microsoft Prevails in Case Involving Stored Emails