Tech Tips, 1217 WYBJ, Vol. 40 No. 6. 52
| Author | Blake A. Klinkner Crowley Fleck, PLLP Cheyenne, Wyoming . |
| Position | Vol. 40 6 Pg. 52 |
United States v. Microsoft: Are Emails Stored on Foreign Computer Servers Off-Limits to Warrants Issued by American Judges?
Blake A. Klinkner Crowley Fleck, PLLP Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Did you know that when you access your email, you could be accessing files which are stored on a computer server overseas even though you access your account in the United States? And did you know that if your email provider chooses to store some of your emails on foreign computer servers, those particular emails might be beyond the warrant powers of American authorities? This question over the degree to which warrant powers may extend to U.S.-based email accounts which happen to contain individual emails stored on foreign computer servers is an important one, and the United States Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear a case that will provide long-overdue guidance into this area of the law.
In United States v. Microsoft, the United States obtained a warrant directing Microsoft to seize and produce the contents of an email account belonging to an individual whom the government suspected was involved in narcotics tracking. The warrant was served on Microsoft at its headquarters in Washington, and Microsoft provided the government with various records associated with the email account that were stored on computer servers located inside the United States. However, many of the email records, including the key emails sought by the government, were actually stored on a computer server that was located in Dublin, Ireland, and Microsoft moved the district court to quash the search warrant to the extent it directed Microsoft to access this foreign server and produce the records which are stored outside the United States.
The district court acknowledged that the “obligation of an Internet Service Provider like Microsoft to disclose to the Government customer information or records is governed by the Stored Communications Act, passed as part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.” The Stored Communications Act “was enacted at least in part in response to a recognition that the Fourth Amendment protections that apply in the physical world, and especially to one’s home, might not apply to information communicated through the internet.” While recognizing that federal courts “are without authority to issue warrants for the search...
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