- in 2014 the court ruled that since the US has jurisdiction over the US-based company, it could force Micro to hand over data even if it is stored abroad

- Micro is fighting said decision claiming breach of privacy. Micro says the US:

"must respect the sovereignty of other countries" and that Washington should look for "legal assistance treaties" when they want to access data held in Ireland or other countries.

- Micro says that it wants to ensure people can "trust the technology on their desks and in their pockets".

- So, the stand-off is being viewed as a test case that will determine the extent of the US government's powers over tech companies that offer cloud-based services.

- Micro has received the support of other US-based companies in their appeal, companies include Apple, Amazon, HP, eBay, AT&T, Verizon and Salesforce.

- Carsten Caspar, from tech consultancy Gartner said:

"They think they have already lost quite a lot of business in Europe over monitoring and surveillance concerns, and they are afraid it will get worse if there is a perceived carte blanche for the US authorities to access emails stored abroad,"

"The EU has stronger privacy requirements, at least on paper, compared with other parts of the world, so tensions between the US and Europe are highest. But other countries are also concerned by US access to foreign records."

- Micro's lawyer Brad Smith says on the situation:

"If the US government is permitted to serve warrants on tech companies in the United States and obtain people's emails in any country, it will open the floodgate for other countries to serve warrants on tech companies for the private communications of American citizens that are stored in the United States in a data centre owned by a foreign company,"

"Imagine the immediate implications for journalists, advocacy organisations, or government officials here."

- But the federal prosecutors say that the system for storing data from Micro is "open to abuse"

- court documents point out that "A criminal user can easily manipulate such a policy to evade the reach of US law enforcement by the simple expedient of giving false residence,"

- the documents also state that:

"With the benefits of corporate citizenship in the United States come corresponding responsibilities, including the responsibility to comply with a disclosure order issued by a US court,"

"Microsoft should not be heard to complain that doing so might harm its bottom line."

- Micro is willing to go "all the way to the Supreme Court" if they lose this appeal.

- Meanwhile Ireland says that if such a request comes through they would consider it "expeditiously".

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34185575

Is the intention of bringin criminals before the law more important than protecting people's privacy?

If Micro is eventually forced to hand over private data, how much do you think this could affect Micro's trust in the eyes of consumers?

Do you think the United States have a right to the personal information of people living in another country?

If the US government wants access to people's email from overseas then it should be talking to those people's governments and not trying to go around them just because it's a shortcut with MS being a US company.

This situation reminds me of The Dark Knight with Batman and the phone spying thingy dilemma.

First the Kinect spies on people and now this. Microsoft has to stop spying on people and learn something called privacy.

A criminal could easily use constitution to its advantage as well. Does that mean that constitution should only selectively apply to the situation and rights should be ignored?

Oh wait. They are already doing that. Never mind.

Well, they are fighting warrant to disclose private info so it's not like they are messing with people's privacy.

I know that criminals often can be technologically impaired but who is so stupid to use an external email service to discuss illicit business? The Italian mafia still uses the "pizzini", orders written in small pieces of paper (easy to swallow I suppose).

Did you even read what this is about?

This is just PR by the US to make a US company with deep ties to technology look good again after the last big leak exposed Micro as giving the government what they want. They want people to go, oh hey look, Micro is fighting the power, we can now trust them with our sensitive information again, when in reality the "agency" (you know the one who taps into the giant internet data lines to gather all their info) probably has already taken this data. Expect a similar story to pop up about Google and Yahoo and those others on that list I think Snowden leaked, in the near future. Lul you into a sense of safety and it will be another 15-20 years before someone else comes forward revealing they have actually been giving up that data (not like they can say no, the "agency" can get whatever they want. This should in no way be a reflection of micro, good or bad.

Really... Did you at least read the OP?
Microsoft is doing the opposite, they are fighting it.

OP:

I guess it is a the right thing to do. I understand that governments must protect themselves but there are limits.