A Microsoft Corp lawsuit that intends to secure the right of companies and to strike down a law that prevents companies from telling customers the government is seeking their data found a number of supports ranging from technology, media, pharmaceutical and other companies and major corporate lobbying groups who filed legal briefs to show their support for the Microsoft suit.

The legal filings were made n the last day for scheduled for filing of friend-of-the-court briefs by nonparticipants in the case. In what is Microsoft’s latest high-profile clash with the U.S. Justice Department over digital privacy and surveillance, the filings revealed a broad support for Microsoft and the technology industry.

The Washington Post, Fox News, the National Newspaper Association, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Amazon.com Inc, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Delta Air Lines Inc, Eli Lilly and Co, BP America and many others are included in the list of Microsoft’s backers.

A US law often bars companies from telling their customers that clients are targets of government snooping as it also allows the government to seize computer data located on third-party computers. It is this law that Microsoft wants to be struck off in the legal suit that it filed in Seattle federal court in April as the company claims it is unconstitutional.

The public has a “compelling interest in keeping criminal investigations confidential” and there is no legal standing to bring the case, argues the Justice Department. The US DOJ also argues that constitutional rights are also protected by procedural safeguards. A Justice Department spokesman declined comment on the filings.

In addition to Microsoft’s First Amendment right to free speech, the Fourth Amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property is being violated by the law and by the government using the law, Microsoft says.

Microsoft claims that it was prohibited from informing customers their data was given to authorities pursuing criminal investigations by the government as it had been subjected to 2,600 federal court orders within the past 18 months, the company said in the suit which is primarily concerned with the storage of data on remote servers that are often referred to as “cloud” computers.

Microsoft argued in its suit that the government is increasingly directing investigations at parties that store data in the cloud using the authority of the 30-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).

A brief supporting Microsoft has also been submitted by five former law enforcement officials who worked for the FBI or Justice Department in Washington state.

A ruling that the government could not force Microsoft to hand over customer emails stored on servers outside the United States, was passed in favor of the tech company in July by a federal appeals court with a 3-0 majority in a separate case against the Justice Department.

A spokesman said that no decision about whether to appeal that decision has been yet taken by the Justice Department.

(Adapted from Reuters)

Categories: Regulations & Legal