Supreme Court agrees to rule on U.S. demand for Microsoft email data stored abroad

BUSINESS

Supreme Court agrees to rule on U.S. demand for Microsoft email data stored abroad

The Supreme Court is intervening in a digital-age privacy dispute between the Trump administration and Microsoft over emails stored abroad. The justices say Monday they will hear the administration's appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of Microsoft. The court held the emails sought in a drug trafficking investigation were beyond the reach of a search warrant because they were kept on a Microsoft server in Ireland. | AP

Reuters

Oct 17, 2017

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to resolve a major privacy dispute between the Justice Department and Microsoft Corp over whether prosecutors should get access to emails stored on company servers overseas.

The justices will hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling last year preventing federal prosecutors from obtaining emails stored in Microsoft computer servers in Dublin in a drug trafficking investigation.

That decision by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals marked a victory for privacy advocates and technology companies that increasingly offer cloud computing services in which data are stored remotely. Prosecutors say a ruling in favor of Microsoft could undermine a range of criminal investigations.