14 DAY TRIAL // The largest companies in the United States are taking Microsoft’s side in a lawsuit against the government over gag orders that would prevent firms from telling users that their data is being requested by local authorities.
Microsoft started the lawsuit in April this year, and on Friday, several companies filed friend-of-the-court briefs to back the software giant, thus joining forces against the United States government’s requirement, which they think is abusive and unconstitutional.
According to Reuters, the companies that took Microsoft side are the following (emphasis is ours): U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Delta Air Lines Inc , Eli Lilly and Co, BP America, the Washington Post, Fox News, the National Newspaper Association, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, Amazon.com Inc, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many others.
Microsoft: US government violating two Constitution amendments
In the lawsuit filed earlier this year Microsoft explained that, with gag orders that prevent companies from informing users that the government is seeking their data, the United States violates the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which gives citizens of the country the right to be informed when the United States authorities are searching or seizing their property - in this case, personal data - and the First Amendment, which, according to Redmond, allows the company to tell users about government requests.
“To be clear, we appreciate that there are times when secrecy around a government warrant is needed,” Microsoft’s Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith, said in April.
“This is the case, for example, when disclosure of the government’s warrant would create a real risk of harm to another individual or when disclosure would allow people to destroy evidence and thwart an investigation. But based on the many secrecy orders we have received, we question whether these orders are grounded in specific facts that truly demand secrecy. To the contrary, it appears that the issuance of secrecy orders has become too routine.”
Seeing all these companies taking Microsoft’s side, however, isn’t at all surprising because the court’s decision in this case could create a precedent that could eventually have an impact on all of them.
Apple itself had its own battles with the US government, and Microsoft too showed its support several times, such as in the San Bernardino iPhone case, so although they’re fierce rivals in so many markets, tech giants can still watch each other’s back when it comes to such disputes against abusive government requests.