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Does US Have Right To Data On Overseas Servers? We're About To Find Out (arstechnica.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader quotes Ars Technica:
The Justice Department on Friday petitioned the US Supreme Court to step into an international legal thicket, one that asks whether US search warrants extend to data stored on foreign servers. The US government says it has the legal right, with a valid court warrant, to reach into the world's servers with the assistance of the tech sector, no matter where the data is stored.
The request for Supreme Court intervention concerns a 4-year-old legal battle between Microsoft and the US government over data stored on Dublin, Ireland servers. The US government has a valid warrant for the e-mail as part of a drug investigation. Microsoft balked at the warrant, and convinced a federal appeals court that US law does not apply to foreign data.
According to the article, the U.S. government told the court that national security was at risk.
The request for Supreme Court intervention concerns a 4-year-old legal battle between Microsoft and the US government over data stored on Dublin, Ireland servers. The US government has a valid warrant for the e-mail as part of a drug investigation. Microsoft balked at the warrant, and convinced a federal appeals court that US law does not apply to foreign data.
According to the article, the U.S. government told the court that national security was at risk.
What we *will* find out is the opinion of an American court, which has no international power. The proper place for this request is the international court of justice in the Netherlands. Unfortunately the US is the only non-dictatorial country that doesn't recognize this court.
I'm waiting for the day that North Korea will issue a warrant to search the NSAs computers. After all, Kim might find stuff related to his national security....
Except for the little detail that the other country has data protection laws that make it illegal to do so. An American court should not be able to override the law where it seems to have had no intent to hide the data from the American authorities.
...but it seems rather reasonable that if a court of law orders you to submit something, the fact that you had stored in another country shouldn't be much of an excuse for not doing so.
The whole crux of the matter is a thing US law enforcement uses called "The Fishing Expedition". If the US had a legitimate legal need for this information all they would need to do is petition a foreign court and get a foreign court order (not that hard to do if an actual investigation is being conducted). Unfortunately for US law enforcement, INTERPOL and foreign courts usually require probable cause and actual evidence of wrongdoing before they will issue such an order, thus the attempt to back-door around that requirement.
even if the laws in that other country prevent you from doing so? European data privacy laws tend tp be much stronger than in the US, and US courts have no authority outside the US to overrule other countries laws. If Microsoft complied with the US court order it would be breaking the law in Ireland. They're between a rock and a hard place...
There is a national security issue here, but not the one you're probably thinking of.
If the SCotUS decides this in favor of the U.S. government, this isn't going to end the way they think it will. The U.S. companies aren't going to roll over and hand over the information the U.S. government wants. They're going to expatriate and reincorporate in another country which doesn't have such overreaching search and seizure laws.
The stupid IRS policy of taxing all income earned abroad simply because you're a U.S. citizen already causes wealthy Americans to move abroad (with their money) and give up their U.S. citizenship. A bad decision here will start the same exodus among U.S.-based multinational corporations. That's the national security issue here - the nation's economic security is being put at risk due to the U.S. government trying to make its laws and authority apply outside of the U.S.
If they are not soldiers then they are civilians, entitled to a lawyer and a speedy trial. Getting held for decades and getting tortured without even being charged with a crime is a clear violation of US law. Also they should be charged under the legal system where the "Crime" was committed (Afghanistan, Iraq etc), not the USA. If you want the world to treat you as the "Good Guys" you have to act the part.