In the latest clash over privacy rights in the digital age, Microsoft is suing the U.S. government over a federal law that allows authorities to examine customer emails or online files without the individual’s knowledge.
The lawsuit comes as the tech industry is increasingly butting heads with U.S. officials over the right to view a wide range of information — including emails, photos and financial records — that customers are storing on smartphones and in so-called “cloud” computing centers.
Microsoft says the U.S. Justice Department is abusing a decades-old law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, to obtain court orders requiring it to turn over customer files stored on its servers, while prohibiting it from notifying the customer. The company says that violates its constitutional rights of free speech and customers’ protection against unreasonable searches.
A Justice Department spokesman said the government had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Seattle federal court.
Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, says authorities used the law to demand customer information more than 5,600 times in the last 18 months. In nearly half those cases, a court ordered the company to keep the demand secret.
“We appreciate that there are times when secrecy around a government warrant is needed,” Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith said in prepared statement. “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.”
In an interview, Smith said the company decided to file its challenge to the law after a case where authorities threatened to hold Microsoft in contempt when it sought to contest a particular secrecy order.
“That caused us to step back and take a look at what was going on more broadly,” he said. “We were very disconcerted when we added up the large number of secrecy orders we’ve been receiving.”
The lawsuit comes as Apple has been waging a high-profile legal battle over the FBI’s attempt to compel that company’s help in obtaining data stored on iPhones.
“It’s part of the same trend,” said Alex Abdo, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. He said tech companies “have gotten the message loud and clear from the American public, that privacy matters.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
What is so surprising about this revelation?!!
That it took so long for Microsoft to see the writing on the wall?
I’m not surprised by the government going through private emails and personal data. I would go even further to suggest the government probably knows more about us than we know. It is likely the government has access to every financial transaction involving checks or credit cards. It is also likely the government is intercepting all internet traffic, analyzing it and storing it in data stockpiles.
Anything you store in the cloud or any communication you have through the phone system or internet is probably seen by government computers. The best way to handle things you want to keep secure is not to send them through the internet or communicate by phone.
Exactly, Justin. Probably very few people realize that each and every phone call, excepting, probably call phones, are monitored by “Big Brother” computers. (And not only in the U.S. either.) If a particular word or phrase is mentioned,
the computers immediately ‘click’ into action and the sender and recipient are noted as well as the conversation monitored for suspect illegal activity. Cell phones’ positions can be tracked when called upon…text messages are also not safe from prying eyes.
Why not make ALL free Emails more Secure OK Yahoo, Google etc.