Do Local Laws Belong In a Global Cloud? Q&A with Brad Smith of Microsoft (Part One)

August 26, 2015 Off By David

Grazed from CFR. Author: Adam Segal.

In December 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) served Microsoft with a warrant requiring the company to hand over the e-mails of a Microsoft customer suspected of drug trafficking. Microsoft refused to turn over the e-mails on the basis that they are stored in servers at a data center in Ireland and that the warrant did not apply to overseas data.

Instead, Microsoft argued the DOJ should work with Irish authorities to obtain access to the data. In July 2014, a U.S. district court ordered Microsoft to turn over the e-mails, but Microsoft appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear arguments on September 9. In light of the significance of this case for U.S. consumers and businesses, and the impact that its outcome could have on the privacy of digital communications, Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, took the time to answer some questions regarding the case and what its outcome might mean…

We’ve split our interview with Brad into two posts, with today’s post looking at the policy side of things. Legal issues related to the case will be featured in a post tomorrow…

Read more from the source @ http://blogs.cfr.org/cyber/2015/08/26/do-local-laws-belong-in-a-global-cloud-qa-with-brad-smith-of-microsoft-part-one/