Microsoft Wins Landmark Case Of Overseas Email Handover

Microsoft has won a crucial ruling by a US federal appeals court that it cannot be forced by the government to hand over data stored on servers outside the country, reports Reuters. This decision reverses the ruling of 2014 which went against Microsoft and also annuls a contempt finding against the company.

"Congress did not intend the SCA's warrant provisions to apply extraterritorially," wrote Circuit Judge Susan Carney in her ruling. "The focus of those provisions is protection of a user's privacy interests."

The US Department of Justice had filed a domestic search warrant against the tech company seeking emails stored in a server in Dublin in a narcotics case. Microsoft challenged it, perhaps the first US company to take this step in such a scenario. This found support from many quarters fueled by concerns that the prosecutors’ demand could ruin the market for US companies abroad.

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