Microsoft required to turn over customer's emails stored abroad: US Judge

Microsoft Corp would need to turn over a customer's emails stored in a data centre in Ireland to the US government, a US judge ruled yesterday, in a case that had seen privacy groups and major technology companies voice concern, Reuters reported.

Microsoft and other US companies had challenged a criminal search warrant for the emails, arguing federal prosecutors could not seize customer information held in foreign countries.

However, after a two-hour court hearing in New York, US district judge Loretta Preska said the warrant lawfully required the company to hand over any data it controlled, regardless of the site of its storage.

Preska said it was a question of control, not just a question of the location of that informant.

The judge added she would temporarily suspend her order from taking effect to allow Microsoft to appeal to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case could be the first instance of a corporation challenging a US search warrant seeking data held abroad.

The verdict comes even as a debate rages over privacy and technology.

The issue came to a head last year when former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the government's efforts to collect huge amounts of consumer data around the world.

According to the judge, the information could be produced by Microsoft in the US without intruding on the foreign sovereignty of Ireland, she added, AP reported.

A court or law enforcement agency in the US was empowered to order a person or entity to produce material, even if the information or person possessing the information was outside the US, Judge Preska said.

According to the Redmond, Washington-based software company, rulings forcing it to turn over emails threatened to rewrite the constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure and could hurt US foreign relations.

Microsoft has received support in its stance from large technology companies, including Apple, Cisco Systems, Verizon Communications and AT&T.

The judge however, stayed the effect of her ruling to give Microsoft time to appeal.

The information was being sought from Microsoft as part of a narcotics investigation.

According to E Joshua Rosenkranz, Microsoft's attorney, the search warrant amounted to the extension of US law enforcement authority to another country and also increased the likelihood that other countries would try to access information in the US.