Microsoft Sues U.S. Government

Microsoft filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Government after their expanded use of gag order. Gag order is when the Government requests for a company’s user data but the company cannot inform the users. It would be like the police searching your home without notifying you.

Microsoft claimed that about half of the requests are secrets and more than two-thirds of the gag orders have no expiration dates. Microsoft believes that these orders violate the first amendment, freedom of speech and freedom of press by disallowing them to talk to their customers. They believe it also violates the fourth amendment which secures people against unreasonable searches and seizures. They have requested for the DOJ to publish new policies to restrict the gag order. Microsoft said if that does not happen, then they will request Congress to add in that the Government will require a warrant for users’ data in the Electronic Communications Protection Act. The first lawsuit being filed is Microsoft wanting to disclose the amount of data requests received. The second is wanting the government to withdraw the national security letter, which is a subpoena issued by the Government to gather information. The last suit regards the U.S. search warrant for an email of a customer in Ireland. This case shows that Microsoft is on our side and trying to fight, so we would know when the Government wants to see our information.

Nowadays it is becoming easier for the Government to make these requests since most of the data is in the cloud instead of on the user’s local network. Regardless, Microsoft is not so willing to divulge its users’ personal data.