Microsoft refused to obey a court order and issue user letters



    After receiving a court order from the US federal court to provide the contents of the mail correspondence of the user whose data is stored on a foreign hosting, Microsoft refused to obey the order .

    This is the first time in history that an American company refuses to comply with a court order to protect its foreign users.

    In principle, Microsoft may well count on victory in this process, because data centers in the European Union are not in the jurisdiction of the United States. However, such courage in challenging the decisions of the home government deserves respect. It used to be believed that American companies blindly obey orders from their government. It turns out someone has the courage to challenge.

    On July 31, 2014, a Manhattan court ruled that Microsoft was required to transmit email messages stored in the Irish data center to investigators from US law enforcement agencies to conduct an investigation. However, shortly thereafter, many international and technology companies in the United States protested because US authorities did not have the right to search and seize data in other countries. This is beyond the law.

    After receiving such feedback, the judge temporarily suspended the requirement for Microsoft to remove the user's email. But then the prosecution still managed to convince the judge that her warrant was not subject to appeal, so on August 29, 2014 she still lifted the suspension, so Microsoft was forced to comply with the court’s request immediately. But she refused to do it.

    As mentioned above, this is the first time in history when an American company refuses to comply with a court order to protect its foreign users. According to Microsoft and many independent lawyers, the American court does not have jurisdiction over information in other countries. The court order violates the sovereignty of Ireland, so the authorities need to conclude an interstate agreement with Ireland to get the data that they want.

    It is very interesting to see how this story ends. Still, Microsoft is an American company. She manages the Irish data center from American territory and can get all the necessary data from here if she has such a desire.

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