14 DAY TRIAL // Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan decided on Friday to remove a suspension on her previous ruling that called for Microsoft to provide access to the United States government to user data stored on Irish servers.
The initial order was announced on July 31, but the judge set a deadline of August 29 in order to delay the enforcement of the ruling and allow Microsoft to appeal the decision.
As reported by Reuters, Microsoft now has until September 5 to decide what to do next, but the company has already announced that it intends to appeal the decision, so the case is very likely to continue at the second court.
“Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Microsoft saw this coming, and in a statement issued yesterday morning, the company clearly emphasized that “your email belongs to you,” explaining one more time that it would do whatever it takes to protect your data. At the same time, Redmond also explained that no matter the court’s decision, it would challenge the ruling every time it’s possible.
“Microsoft is committed to delivering meaningful privacy protections that build trust with our customers, and we know how much you value the contents of your email. We believe your email belongs to you, not us, and that it should receive the same privacy protection as paper letters sent by mail--no matter where it is stored,” Brendon Lynch, Chief Privacy Officer, Microsoft, said.
Microsoft’s main argument is that some other governments across the world might follow with similar requests, which would in the end lead to no privacy for users and their emails, no matter where the data is stored.
Of course, this could clearly have a dramatic impact on Microsoft’s business, which puts the emphasis on privacy no matter the country where the products are available.
“So far the courts have sided with the U.S. government, but we are appealing the latest decision. This case could have important implications outside the U.S. Other governments could demand emails held in datacenters outside their jurisdiction. In fact, earlier this month the British government passed a law asserting its right to require tech companies to produce emails stored anywhere in the world. This would include emails stored in the U.S. by Americans who have never been to the UK,” Lynch added yesterday.