Microsoft privacy case has cloud industry on edge.

• Position: CLOUD

Who owns data stored in the cloud? Where are the legal boundaries? These are issues at the core of a Microsoft privacy case. Microsoft has been ordered by a U.S. federal court to turn over a customer's email stored on servers in Ireland in compliance with a U.S. government-issued search warrant. Microsoft is fighting the ruling, contending that the e-mails belong to the customer. As for the search warrant, Microsoft says there is well-established case law that it cannot reach beyond U.S. shores. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled the location of the e-mail was irrelevant because Microsoft controls it from the United States.

Many see this as the latest hit to the cloud computing industry and, particularly, to U.S. cloud providers still dealing with trust issues because of the National Security Agency surveillance scandal. But that's just one piece--this case could also have far-reaching ramifications for international law. In an interview with InformationWeek, Morgan Reed, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology, pointed out that if the U.S. government can force Microsoft...