Will Microsoft have to hand over your data to the US Government?
Namely, the US Justice Department has filed a petition asking the US Supreme Court to review the lower court’s opinion in the Microsoft case. In the case, the US Government demanded that Microsoft hand over the content of emails of one of its users, based on a warrant in a criminal investigation for drug trafficking, whereas the emails were stored on a server in Ireland. Microsoft refused to hand over the emails and the appellate court in New York ruled in favour of Microsoft, stating that the US Government does not have the right to force Microsoft or any other company to hand over emails of their users which are stored on servers outside of the US.
This is a landmark decision with respect to issues of disclosure of personal data from electronic media. The current US court decision means that users of electronic services may count on the law of their national state to regulate protection of their privacy and personal data and that their personal data will not be transferred to other countries based on a unilateral demand for data disclosure.
The EU (and Slovenian) legislation do not allow for disclosure of personal data based on a unilateral demand by another country. If the US Supreme Court accepts the matter under review, and decides differently, such a decision could represent a dangerous precedent that will create numerous problems, both for business between companies, as well as for US relations with other countries. In addition, such a judgement could also affect the Privacy Shield agreement (which we have already discussed).
