Microsoft and other companies in the US have challenged the court's issuing of a search warrant in retrieving the emails. They argued that US authorities have no right to seize customer information that is kept in countries outside the US.
The ruling came despite an affidavit made by former Justice Minister Michael McDowell. The latter argued that disclosing a data is considered lawful only if it has been signed by a judge in Ireland.
On the other hand, the US Government stressed that Microsoft had not cited any laws in Ireland which would disallow the company to hand over the needed email information stored in Ireland. The investigators needed the information which is paramount to their investigation of a drug-dealing case.
Loretta A Preska, US District Judge in New York expressed her approval with the ruling of the magistrate judge. The ruling has approved a sealed search warrant that is scheduled in December for a Dublin-based consumer email account stored by Microsoft. She further adds that the question on pursuing the information should be based on knowing who controlled the data and not on the location where the data is stored. Microsoft could produce the information in the US which is not at all intrusive to Ireland's foreign sovereignty.
Microsoft retaliated that these types of ruling which forces a company to turn over emails is tantamount to revising the Constitution's protection against unlawful search and seize. Furthermore, it can even damage the country's foreign relations. Microsoft's stand is supported by other large technology companies such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., and Apple Inc.
The judge who made the ruling on 31 July had delayed the proceeding in order to give Microsoft ample time to make an appeal.
Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president of Microsoft, said that the ruling of Preska was not deemed as a final word. "We will appeal promptly and continue to advocate that people's email deserves strong privacy protection in the US and around the world," said Smith.
AT&T's general counsel, Wayne Watts, expressed that the company was totally disappointed with the ruling. He was echoed by Christopher Sogholan, a principal technologist from the American Civil Liberties Union. According to Sogholan, the ruling was "a major blow not just for Microsoft, but for the entire US cloud computing industry. If these companies wish to regain the trust of their global customers, they must embrace security technologies such as cloud cryptography, which can provide real privacy protections where the law does not."
