Microsoft wins landmark appeal over seizure of foreign e-mails

A federal appeals court said Microsoft and other companies cannot be forced to turn over customer e-mails stored on servers outside the United States. The 3-0 decision by a panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York was a victory for privacy advocates, as well as for technology companies hoping to offer cloud computing and other services to customers around the world.

Circuit Judge Susan Carney said communications held by US service providers on servers located outside the United States are beyond the reach of domestic search warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 federal law. "Congress did not intend the SCA's warrant provisions to apply extraterritorially," she wrote. "The focus of those provisions is protection of a user's privacy interests." Microsoft had been challenging a warrant seeking e-mails stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland, in a narcotics case. It was believed to be the first US company to challenge a domestic search warrant seeking data held outside the country. July 14's decision reversed a July 2014 ruling by then-Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court in Manhattan requiring Microsoft to turn over the e-mails. It also voided a contempt finding against the company.