Η Microsoft Corp. must hand over emails from its services stored in a data center in Ireland to the US government, a US judge ruled Thursday in a case that has raised concerns from privacy groups and big companies alike technology.
Η Μicrosoft και άλλες εταιρείες των ΗΠΑ αμφισβήτησαν το ποινικό ένταλμα έρευνας για τα μηνύματα ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου, υποστηρίζοντας ότι οι ομοσπονδιακοί εισαγγελείς δεν μπορούν να αξιοποιήσουν information of their customers that took place in foreign countries.
But after a two-hour hearing procedure in New York, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that a warrant requiring the company to hand over all of its data for inspection was legal, regardless of where it was stored.
"Είναι ένα ζήτημα control, και δεν είναι ζήτημα θέσης των εν λόγω πληροφοριών", δήλωσε η Preska.
The judge said he would temporarily suspend the order to allow Microsoft to appeal to the 2 US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case seems to be the first case in which the company infringes a US search warrant seeking data stored abroad.
AT&T Inc, Apple Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Verizon Communications Inc support Microsoft, along with its privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Companies are concerned that they could lose billions of dollars in revenue from foreign competitors if their customers are afraid of their data.
In a statement, Microsoft's chief executive, Brad Smith, said the company would appeal.
Recall that in August last year, the Institute of Informatics and Innovation appreciated that Snowden's revelations could cost in the US cloud computing industry from 22 to 35 billion dollars for the next three years.
