Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has come up boldly against the Federal Reserve’s demand to share customers’ emails stored in the company’s data centers, located outside of the U.S.
A Bloomberg report throws light on how Microsoft’s Corporate Counsel Brad Smith has straightforwardly opposed the idea through his statement published in the Wall Street Journal, He said: “Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) believes you own emails stored in cloud, with the same protection as paper letters. This means the government must have a warrant […] a warrant cannot reach beyond US shores, and we store emails in Ireland.” The remarks from Smith are published in the daily ahead of the U.S. government hearing in a federal court in New York in relation to a warrant sent to the company in December for gaining record of a consumer’s emails as part of a narcotic drug investigation.
However, the company is not willing to be a part of such privacy intrusion, except under valid legal circumstances. The whole idea of Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) action is to ensure that the government agencies get their hands on a customer’s private data only through a valid legal process. Moreover, it also wants to convey that the data stored in the cloud cannot be claimed as the government’s property, if their storage location is outside U.S. boundaries. At the same time, Microsoft is of the view that personal conversations stored in new digital forms should get enhanced legal protection.
While Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) standing up against the Fed might win their consumers’ hearts, according to Michael Holland, who is a Chairman of Holland & Co and is also a shareholder of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), there is no need to go against the Fed.
“With all due respect to Smith and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and I am glad they are trying and I am glad as a shareholder they are trying, but I think we are in mess with them,” said Holland.
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