Judge’s ruling spells bad news for US cloud providers

A court ruling over search warrants means continued trouble for US cloud providers eager to build their businesses abroad.

In his ruling, US Magistrate Judge James Francis found that big Internet service providers (ISPs) -- including name brands Microsoft and Google -- must comply with valid warrants to turn over customer information, including e-mails, even if that material resides in data centers outside the US, according to several reports.

Microsoft recently challenged such a warrant and this ruling was the response. In a blog post, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard characterized this as a necessary first step in what will likely be a long battle.

The ruling basically upholds the status quo for US companies who have tried to reassure foreign governments that data residing in their data centers outside the US will be safe from overreach by US law enforcement or security agencies.