The ruling by a United States court on Thursday (July 14) that the American government could not gain access to data residing on a Microsoft server in Ireland is being hailed as victory by privacy campaigners, big tech firms, and legal experts alike. The case, dating back to 2013, centered around e-mails stored in Ireland that are part of a USA drug investigation.
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The case centered on a suspected administrator of the Silk Road narcotics marketplace whose Outlook.com emails were stored on a Microsoft server in Dublin.
While according to Justice Department spokesman, Peter Carr, the agency was disappointed by the decision and reviewing its legal options, he said: “legal protections of the physical world apply in the digital domain”. The company resisted, stating that if it complied, foreign governments could force USA companies to turn over evidence stored within the United States.
The court’s opinion will help avoid a parade of horribles that CDT, along with other civil society organizations and companies, warned about in an amicus brief supporting Microsoft’s position.
The plans, if passed, would allow, for the first time, foreign governments to serve USA technology companies with warrants for email searches and wiretaps. According to him, the decision gives people more confidence to rely on their own countries’ laws to protect their privacy as against the foreign interference threat.
The appeals court ruling provides some clarity around modern applications of the Stored Communications Act, which – as you’d expect from a piece of legislation pertaining to data and digital communications penned in 1986 – has unclear implications given the realities of current digital communication and cloud computing. In addition, the results of the case underscore the urgent need to reform US laws. Last May, a bipartisan bill was also introduced in the U.S Senate for the clarification that when and where law enforcement may access electronic communications of U.S citizens. “We’re also encouraged by the work of the U.S. Justice Department in pursuing a new bilateral treaty approach with the government of the United Kingdom”. The UK agreement would also have to be approved by the legislatures of both countries. Privacy advocates aware of the negotiations are already decrying the proposals, saying that it would put individual liberty at risk.
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United States technology companies could be served with foreign government search warrants under plans being developed by the Obama administration. Unfortunately, the future of cross-border law enforcement data requests is still messy, convoluted, and extremely uncertain.
