U.S. Extraterritorial Data Warrants: Yet Another Reason For Swift Data Protection Reform, Says EU Commission

In May, we reported that a U.S. magistrate judge had upheld a warrant requiring Microsoft to disclose emails held on servers in Ireland to the U.S. authorities. The ruling has now attracted the attention of Brussels, with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, voicing her concern.

Microsoft had argued before the court that the warrant, which was issued under the Stored Communications Act, should be quashed. This was because it amounted to an extraterritorial warrant, which U.S. courts were not authorised to issue under the Act. In summary, the court ruled that the warrant should be upheld, noting that otherwise the U.S. government would have to rely on the "slow and laborious" procedure under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which would place a "substantial" burden on the government.