In a move that has caused consternation in the technology industry, a recent ruling by a district court judge in the United States has required
Microsoft Corporation to hand over emails stored at its data center in Ireland. The ruling, made effective by Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the US district court in Manhattan, upheld a magistrate judge’s previous ruling made July 31, 2014.
Microsoft has indicated its intention to overturn Judge Preska's decision and despite being required to comply with the court's requirements, the corporation has suggested that it would not hand over the required emails while its appeal was in progress. Its strong stance is seen by some as "damage control" - Edward Snowden's 2013 revelations about the monitoring activities if the United States' National Security Agency (NSA) hit consumer trust as far as Microsoft was concerned.
Snowden's revelations had a severe impact on the United States' cloud industry which has lost foreign customers due to their security concerns. Snowden suggested that that data stored by key cloud-based email providers like Microsoft was regularly breached by the NSA.
The warrant for the emails held by Microsoft in Ireland was issued as part of a drug-trafficking probe conducted by US law enforcement agencies and was the first time a US company had been order to release data held on foreign soil. Microsoft's opposition to the ruling received the support of companies such as AT&T Inc, Apple Inc and Cisco Systems Inc. who submitted briefs in support of the corporation.
Should data held on foreign soil be available to the US authorities? Does the Internet negate international boundaries? Let us know your thoughts. Add your comments below.
