In 2018 the US Supreme Court will take a legal case involving Microsoft refusal to release emails in order to continue police investigations relating to drug trafficking, child pornography, terrorism, and fraud. For decades, regardless if a warrant is issued or not, Microsoft as well as Google and Yahoo have declined handing over digital information from their servers such as emails to authorities aiding in federal investigations. They were able to do this due to the fact that the information in question is kept outside the United States. It is stated that non-US courts are relying on the 1986 Stored Communications Act which responds to the issue of disclosing “stored wired and electronic communications and transactional records” that is held by third-party internet service providers such as Microsoft. The issue at hand relates to the concept of privacy of such information to law enforcement to battle corruption. Microsoft refutes this case by affirming that Congress needs to update the 1986 Stored Communications Act to support technology that involves “cloud computing”. The case will go to court in 2018 on the extent to which disclosing digital information is permissible or seen as an invasion of privacy.
Thank you Mistry for your contribution with this article.
Thank you Mistry for your contribution with this article.