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Business Crimes Hotline

By ljnstaff | Law Journal Newsletters |
July 02, 2014

Question on Appeal: Can Federal Prosecutors Reach Electronic Communications Abroad?

Microsoft is pushing back against the federal prosecutors who were given the green light by a Magistrate Judge to compel the company to turn over e-mail communications cached in Ireland in connection with one of their investigations. Microsoft claims the warrant, issued under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), is illegal because it seeks information from a foreign location that would not be directly reachable by a U.S. court. In its appellate brief to a New York federal district court, Microsoft asserts, “[T]he Government cannot conscript Microsoft to do what it has no authority itself to do ' i.e., execute a warranted search abroad.” The company added that if the warrant is upheld, it will “violate international law and treaties, and reduce the privacy protection of everyone on the planet,” and that nothing in the ECPA indicates that Congress had “any such intent” in enacting the law.

Question on Appeal: Can Federal Prosecutors Reach Electronic Communications Abroad?

Microsoft is pushing back against the federal prosecutors who were given the green light by a Magistrate Judge to compel the company to turn over e-mail communications cached in Ireland in connection with one of their investigations. Microsoft claims the warrant, issued under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), is illegal because it seeks information from a foreign location that would not be directly reachable by a U.S. court. In its appellate brief to a New York federal district court, Microsoft asserts, “[T]he Government cannot conscript Microsoft to do what it has no authority itself to do ' i.e., execute a warranted search abroad.” The company added that if the warrant is upheld, it will “violate international law and treaties, and reduce the privacy protection of everyone on the planet,” and that nothing in the ECPA indicates that Congress had “any such intent” in enacting the law.

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