US authorities can access data on servers worldwide – court ruling
28 April 2014, 09:52 -- In a most controversial ruling that came about last Friday, Internet service providers are obliged to turn over all customer emails and other digital content sought by US government search warrants even when the data is stored overseas.
Giant Internet service providers such as Microsoft Corp or Google Inc. 'cannot refuse to turn over customer information and emails stored in other countries when issued a valid search warrant from US law enforcement agencies,' US Magistrate Judge James Francis in New York said, as reported by Reuters agency.
If Microsoft isn't obliged to hand over the information the warrant seeks, the unnamed US law enforcers seeking the identity of (and other information about) the unnamed target of the warrant would have to negotiate this with bodies in other countries, which appears to be a serious impediment for the secret services.
'The burden on the government would be substantial, and law enforcement efforts would be seriously impeded,' Francis pointed out.
This has sharpened concerns in countries worldwide about the extra-territorial reach of US laws, first triggered by much spoken of disclosures by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about secret US government efforts to collect huge amounts of consumer data around the world.
Experts shared some of their worries with Reuters: 'It showcases an increasing trend that data can be anywhere,' says Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University, expert in computer crime law.
In a statement, Microsoft said it challenged the warrant because the US government should not have access to consumer data, namely emails found offshore.
'A US prosecutor cannot obtain a US warrant to search someone's home located in another country, just as another country's prosecutor cannot obtain a court order in her home country to conduct a search in the United States,' the company stated. 'We think the same rules should apply in the online world, but the government disagrees.'
Microsoft made it clear they are going to challenge the ruling still further, having announced earlier they stood on guard of private data security.
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