Cloud Computing: Microsoft Wins Landmark Email Privacy Case

July 18, 2016 Off By David

Grazed from InfoSecurity. Author: Phil Muncaster.

A US federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Microsoft in a major privacy case related to whether the government can demand access to data stored on servers outside the country. The decision reverses a court order from 2014 requesting that the computing giant hand over emails stored in Ireland for use in a drugs case.

Judge Susan Carney of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled that the Stored Communications Act only applies to data stored in the US. Microsoft had argued that if the government got its way in the case, it could open the floodgates for foreign agents to raid its offices in jurisdictions all over the world and demand access to US citizens’ data…

"The decision is important for three reasons,” said Microsoft president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith. “It ensures that people’s privacy rights are protected by the laws of their own countries; it helps ensure that the legal protections of the physical world apply in the digital domain; and it paves the way for better solutions to address both privacy and law enforcement needs.”…

Read more from the source @ http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/microsoft-wins-landmark-email/