Supreme Court to hear case called 'existential threat' to cloud computing

On a Tuesday following March 2, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments from Microsoft in a legal battle over how technology companies handle user data stored overseas. The case, United States v. Microsoft Corp., stemmed from a December 2013 decision in which a federal judge in New York granted a government warrant to obtain email content and information regarding a suspected drug trafficker.

The warrant was issued under the Stored Communications Act of 1986. Microsoft argued that the law is outdated and cannot properly apply to modern internet infrastructure or cloud computing. Because the targeted data was stored on Irish servers, Microsoft maintained that the Department of Justice should obtain an Irish warrant. The Department of Justice countered that Microsoft should deliver the data directly, as it was accessible to the company within a few clicks.

According to the report, digital rights and legal experts warned that a ruling in favor of the government could trigger a global backlash, potentially exposing the data of American citizens to unilateral seizure by foreign governments. A former Justice Department national security official stated that the case would have a significant impact on the future of internet privacy and security. Microsoft also asserted that a government victory would threaten the viability of cloud computing, noting that the litigation had already raised privacy concerns in Western Europe and Brazil regarding data stored in U.S. data centers.