The Faulty Logic at the Heart of Microsoft Ireland Email Dispute
Microsoft has been battling with the federal government over the Department of Justice's high profile attempt to get access to emails stored abroad in Ireland for the better part of 2014. The US government has claimed a US warrant is sufficient to get emails even when stored in another country, while Microsoft has resisted, arguing the US warrant power does not reach that far. The case has made business rivals into temporary allies and forced Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Data Protection to ask the European Commission to formally support Microsoft. Today we joined the Brennan Center for Justice, the ACLU, and The Constitution Project in a new amicus brief…supporting Microsoft. We warn the appeals court that two pieces of faulty logic in the lower court's reasoning could have dangerous implications for digital privacy.