Initiatives - Microsoft & Data Law

Legal cases

We bring legal challenges or participate in important cases when we believe there are open questions about the law that have broad impact for our customers. We always try to couple legal challenges with helpful policy solutions and a willingness to listen.

Microsoft’s Search Warrant Case

Microsoft challenged a U.S. government search warrant seeking access to customer emails in our Irish data center. On July 14, 2016, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 in favor of our challenge, a decision that helps ensure information stored in the cloud receives the same protection as physical information, paving the way for modern solutions that enhance personal rights and public safety.

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.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Transparency Case

Microsoft, Google, and other companies filed suit in June 2013 against the U.S. government for the right to disclose more details on orders issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and U.S. national security laws. In February 2014, the U.S. government approved an agreement permitting Microsoft and the other companies to publish data about orders for the first time.

Microsoft’s National Security Letter Lawsuit

Microsoft challenged a nondisclosure order attached to U.S. National Security Letter seeking information about an account belonging to an enterprise customer in late 2013. We believed the nondisclosure provision was unlawful and violated our constitutional rights. As a result of our challenge, the government withdrew the National Security Letter.

Apple Amicus Brief

In the Apple case, the U.S. Justice Department asked a magistrate to apply language in the All Writs Act that was written and passed by Congress in 1911. Rather than relying on outdated laws to resolve modern problems, Congress should seek to develop solutions needed for 21st century technology.

Reforming laws

Current laws are outdated, both denying law enforcement modern tools to do its job and eroding the rights of people who use technology. Updating the law can help preserve our values and increase public safety.

Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act

The current U.S. law governing police access to data is more than 30 years old and does not reflect the modern realities of cloud computing. The CLOUD Act is an important step toward enhancing and protecting individual privacy rights, reducing international conflicts of law and keeping us all safer.

ECPA Reform

New laws are needed to update and set legal standards that reflect the way people use the cloud today.

International agreements

Allies often work together to share evidence and keep their people safe, but many of today’s evidence-sharing treaties are outdated. Outdated treaties make it harder for law enforcement agencies to stop crime and lead to confusion about people’s rights and the obligations of technology companies that hold people’s data. A new set of agreements among likeminded democratic governments can provide needed clarity and enhance law enforcement cooperation.

U.S.-UK Data Agreement

The U.S. and UK governments have negotiated an agreement enabling their law enforcement agencies to request digital evidence across their borders more easily while guaranteeing the legal standards that protect the legal rights of their citizens. We urge governments around the world to engage with each other to request data stored across borders while ensuring protections of people’s rights over their data.