U.S. claims it has rightful access to data stored on servers anywhere in the world.

[FunctionalOlfactio]

Judge mulls contempt charges in Microsoft’s e-mail privacy fight with US
US claims it has rightful access to data stored on servers anywhere in the world.

by David Kravets - Sep 2, 2014 7:10 pm UTC

A federal judge is mulling whether to hold Microsoft in contempt of court for defying orders to give the US government e-mails stored on an overseas server.

The case is the nation's first testing the Obama administration's position that any company with operations in the US must comply with valid warrants for data, even if the content is stored overseas. The US believes the e-mail on a Microsoft server in Dublin, Ireland is associated with narcotics trafficking.

Microsoft on Tuesday reiterated its position that it was talking with US District Judge Loretta Preska, the judge who sided with the Obama administration on Friday. "We will not be turning over the e-mail," Microsoft said in a statement.

The precedent-setting case became mired in a procedural muck on Friday. A contempt order could solve it, however.

Before the Labor Day weekend, the judge ordered Microsoft to cough up the data. Judge Preska originally found in the government's favor in July, but she stayed enforcing her ruling pending a Microsoft appeal. The judge decided Friday that her ruling wasn't appealable and lifted the stay. But Preska suggested that Microsoft could obtain the legal standing to have the case heard on appeal if it refused to comply and was found in contempt.

"If Microsoft refuses to comply, the Court could find Microsoft in contempt, which would be a final order subject to appellate review," the judge wrote.

Microsoft said Tuesday that "Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen."

The government asked the judge to hold Microsoft in contempt.

"If Microsoft refuses to comply with the order, then the Government respectfully requests that the Court issue a contempt order that would, in turn, be a properly appealable final order, which could be stayed on consent pending appeal," the government wrote.

The judge's original July ruling endorsed the US government's position that it should be able to access the world's servers. "It is a question of control, not a question of the location of that information," Preska ruled.

That is a position that Microsoft and other companies contend is wrong. The companies maintain that the enforcement of US law stops at the US border.

Microsoft said its consumer trust is low in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations. Microsoft told Judge Preska in a filing that the "government's position in this case further erodes that trust and will ultimately erode the leadership of US technologies in the global market."

Verizon said (PDF) that a decision favoring the US would produce "dramatic conflict with foreign data protection laws." Apple and Cisco said (PDF) that the tech sector is put "at risk" of being sanctioned by foreign governments and that the US should seek cooperation with foreign nations via treaties, a position the US said was not practical.

The Justice Department said that global jurisdiction is necessary in an age when "electronic communications are used extensively by criminals of all types in the United States and abroad, from fraudsters to hackers to drug dealers, in furtherance of violations of US law."

Source:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...s-in-microsofts-e-mail-privacy-fight-with-us/

 

[Captain.Heroin]

It surely does not. They're just saying that to reduce people standing up for their rights.

 

[slimvictor]

The US may think it has all the rights in the world, and its behavior may follow this logic, but it doesn't.
Not far.
Like a tyrant, if it ignores the welfare of its people and thirsts only for more power, it will be brought down.

 

['medicine cabinet']

America fuck yea! Walmart fuck yea! McDonalds fuck yea!

Only a matter of time til everyone has a monitor in their house that the gov can watch them on...oh yea its called a computer.

 

[FunctionalOlfactio]

iamthesuck,

Also those bureaucrats aren't elected. Alan Greenspan* was an appointed official and arguably the most powerful person on the planet (chairman of the Federal Reserve of the worlds reserve currency). He was chairman of the Federal Reserve during the presidencies of Regan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. The same type of thing happens in supper powerful secret government agencies you have never heard exist.

*http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_greenspan

 

[MyDoorsAreOpen]

Translated into Realpolitik: "The USA pwns the world. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, refuse to comply with a demand from with the US government, they'll find a way to make you wish you hadn't."

Which only has a grain of truth to it. Yes, almost any person or institution that thumbs their nose at the US government and is street-stupid enough to underestimate just how deep their pockets and long their tentacles are, or just how willing they are to go from verbal to physical over small but publicized shit, had probably better watch their ass. But this world is full of people who actively work against the interests of the US government in various ways, and never get taken down for it. They're just smart enough to cover their tracks, hide behind layers and layers of opacity, bureaucracy, disinformation, and places no one, including the US government, would ever think to look. If I were a top official in the Irish branch of Microsoft, I'd clandestinely arrange to swap the storage device containing the wanted e-mails with one that didn't, and be like "sure, have at it."

By way of analogy, if I posted a jaunty video on youtube daring the Mara Salvatrucha to find me and kill me, there's a non-negligible chance you'd find me in the BL Shrine not long after. But there are ordinary folk who inhabit neighborhoods where this gang is essentially the local government, and never run afoul of it, because they know how to keep from being noticed.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I sincerely hope Microsoft crashes into the ground, and fear that it will hurt our rights for this to happen.

 

[my3rdeye]

At least Microsoft is standing up up to them. A few years ago Hushmail was the darling of online drug sellers before Tor existed (yes there were drugs online before Silk Road). Everyone online who into the privacy thing was recommending hushmail and everyone thought a non USA based server (In Canada) was safe. It wasn't and they handed over emails at the request of the US government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hushmail
On the positive side there are several companies now working on supposedly NSA proof phones and laptops. The tech war is on now for sure and the USA has created a nice market for new cypto-technology. And why can't I just locate a server in Iran or something? Good luck getting forcing them to hand over emails. I personally don't think the US government has won this war, that it is over, or that the rest world is going to just sit back and let it happen.

 

[Kilfer]

Only a matter of time til everyone has a monitor in their house that the gov can watch them on...oh yea its called a computer.

Formerly Big Brother, gosh I'm old.

There's a big blank in the article, it doesn't mention that the server in question is part of Microsoft's European HQ which is based in Dublin and registered as an EU corporation. Surely Microsoft could appeal through European courts or even with the Irish justice system. Will last for years.