Microsoft wins appeal over U.S. government access to emails held overseas

A U.S. appeals court has quashed a search warrant that would have required Microsoft to disclose contents of emails stored on a server in Ireland, in a case that has broad ramifications for privacy, diplomatic relations and the ability of U.S. companies to sell web services abroad.

"We think Microsoft has the better of the argument," said Circuit Court Judge Sarah Carney, in an opinion written for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

The panel based its judgment on the 30-year-old U.S. Stored Communications Act. The act, Carney wrote, "does not authorize courts to issue and enforce against U.S.‐based service providers warrants for the seizure of customer e‐mail content that is stored exclusively on foreign servers." The opinion was posted Thursday.

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