Microsoft’s troubles with the US government are public knowledge ever since the company was sued in order to force them to release someone’s private info stored in an Irish datacenter. But now Ireland itself has filed an amicus brief with the court to support Microsoft.
Microsoft has been fighting numerous legal battles against the United States government which claims it has the right to access data stored in another country under local law. The company has countered saying this transcends international law and messes with Ireland’s, or any other country’s for that matter of act, national sovereignty.
Now it looks like Ireland itself is standing by Microsoft’s side with the country government filing a brief. One of the country’s major points is that there are legal ways in which the US government can ask for the data by going through the Irish government and without forcing Microsoft to do anything in a quasi-legal way.
Whether Ireland’s support will count for something remains to be seen as Microsoft is still in the middle of a legal battle. But either way this case will likely set an important precedent for all technology companies out there.
Source: Digital Constitution via: TechCrunch | Original gavel image via Brian Turner / Flickr