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    Legal cases: Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit

    On April 14, 2016, Microsoft filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle challenging the U.S. government’s use of indefinite and overly broad secrecy orders that prevent us from telling customers when the government accesses their data. While there are times when secrecy is necessary, the use of secrecy orders should be the exception, not the rule.

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    Oct 24, 2017 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|Fortune

    Microsoft Declares Victory in Fight to Tell Users About Government Email Searches

    In April of last year, Microsoft sued the United States government for the right to inform customers when authorities are rifling through their emails on Microsoft’s servers. The government was using gag orders in thousands of investigations each year, with no fixed end date for the enforced secrecy.

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    Oct 23, 2017 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|Reuters

    Microsoft to drop lawsuit after U.S. government revises data request rules

    Microsoft Corp said it will drop a lawsuit against the U.S. government after the Department of Justice (DOJ) changed data request rules on alerting internet users about agencies accessing their information.

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    Oct 23, 2017 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|Axios

    Microsoft will drop suit after DoJ agrees to limit use of gag orders

    Microsoft said Monday it will drop a lawsuit against the federal government after the Justice Department agreed to limit its use of "gag orders" to prevent Internet service providers from notifying customers that the government has accessed their information.

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    Jan 23, 2017 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|The Seattle Times

    Microsoft’s victory in email-seizure case stands, hailed as win for privacy

    The company argues that court orders for customer data often come with gag orders that Microsoft claims are a violation of customers’ privacy rights. The government contends Microsoft doesn’t have authority to sue on behalf of the customer.

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    Sep 8, 2016 | Microsoft | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|The Seattle Times

    Microsoft is right to challenge the government’s secret snooping

    There were high hopes for transparency from President Obama, a former constitutional law professor who pledged to create “an unprecedented level of openness” in government.

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    Sep 2, 2016 | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|The New York Times

    Microsoft’s Challenge to Government Secrecy Wins Dozens of Supporters

    Dozens of allies threw their weight behind Microsoft on Friday in a case that challenges law enforcement’s use of secrecy orders to cloak its pursuit of digital communications in investigations.

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    Sep 2, 2016 | Microsoft | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|The Seattle Times

    Long list of groups backs Microsoft in case involving digital-data privacy

    Scores of technology companies, media enterprises, corporations, organizations and former law-enforcement officials filed briefs Friday in support of Microsoft’s lawsuit against the U.S. government that contends a procedure used by federal investigators to collect digital data is unconstitutional.

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    Sep 2, 2016 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|Bloomberg

    Apple, Google Back Microsoft Over ‘Sneak-and-Peek’ Searches

    Apple Inc., Google and Amazon.com Inc. were among the tech leaders that rallied behind Microsoft Corp. in its battle to stop the U.S. government from conducting so-called sneak-and-peek searches of customer e-mails.

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    Apr 15, 2016 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|PBS Newshour

    Microsoft sues DOJ over demands for access to customer data

    Now: a high-profile showdown between a tech giant and the U.S. government over accessing private data.

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    Apr 14, 2016 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|The Washington Post

    Microsoft sues over law banning tech firms from telling customers about data requests

    Microsoft wants a federal judge in Seattle to strike down a law that allows courts to prohibit a tech company from telling customers that the government has sought their data.

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    Apr 14, 2016 | Brad Smith | Microsoft's Secrecy Order Lawsuit|The New York Times

    Microsoft Sues Justice Department to Protest Electronic Gag Order Statute

    Big technology companies have usually played a defensive game with government prosecutors in their legal fight over customer information, fighting or bowing to requests for information one case at a time.

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    Resources

    Sep 2, 2016 |

    Amicus brief from Twitter

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    Sep 2, 2016 |

    Amicus brief from tech companies: Apple, Lithium Technologies, Mozilla and Twilio

    Download

    Sep 2, 2016 |

    Amicus brief from tech companies: Amazon, Box, Cisco, Dropbox, Evernote, Google, Linkedin, Pinterest, Salesforce, Snapchat and Yahoo

    Download

    Sep 2, 2016 |

    Amicus brief from civil society groups and experts

    Download
    View All Resources

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