Justice Department Says Other Nations May Access Customer Data Stored in US

The Justice Department acknowledged that foreign governments can obtain customer data held in the US, as an agency lawyer pressed for access to e-mails stored by Microsoft in Europe.

Control over data, regardless of its location, dictates whether a US company must produce it to the government, Justice Department lawyer Justin Anderson told the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, where Microsoft is fighting a US search warrant for customer emails stored in a data center in Ireland. The outcome of the case could affect how privacy-conscious people outside the US view American companies and their ability to safeguard customer data.