European Commission enters dispute between Microsoft and the US government over Irish data centre

US reminded by European Commission of EU data protection laws

The dispute between Microsoft and the US government has been taken up a notch after the European Commission entered the fray, warning that if Microsoft were to cave in it would have legal implications in the European Union.

In 2014, the US Department of Justice filed a court case against Microsoft because the company wouldn't hand over emails that were stored on servers in Ireland.

Essentially, the US government wanted to get its hands on emails to assist it with a legal enquiry. But because they're stored in Ireland, Microsoft claimed that US officials needed to file its legal request in Ireland.

US law enforcement agencies weren't happy with Microsoft's decision and responded by suggesting that it can demand data stored anywhere in the world, but Microsoft has stood firm.

The US government wants Microsoft to be compelled to respond to a warrant based on section 2703 of the Stored Communications Act, but the second circuit has since sided with Microsoft.

The case doesn't stop there, though, as the US Department of Justice has appealed the case, an appeal granted by the Supreme Court in October.

Microsoft is worried about a plethora of EU and Irish legal and regulatory implications, and now the European Commission is finally responding. It wants the US to be mindful that European laws are "correctly understood".

To assist with the case, it's sent supportive material from the European Union to the court.

According to the Commission, the US can't just expect data to be transferred between EU and the US unless it complies with EU data protection laws, which are about to be ratcheted up with the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May next year.

"The Commission considered it to be in the interest of the EU to make sure that EU data protection rules on international transfers are correctly understood and taken into account by the US Supreme Court," it said.

The US DoJ is still adamant that it is in the right, though, according to a brief filed yesterday. The department argued that Microsoft "has never stated that it would be subject to liability under the laws of Ireland or the European Union for disclosing in the United States any communications stored at its Dublin datacenter".

It added: "A federal magistrate judge issued the requested Section 2703 warrant, concluding that the government had established probable cause to believe that the specified email account contained fruits, evidence, or instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking

"If an actual conflict of laws were to arise, our judicial system is equipped to handle that scenario. The government could exercise discretion to pursue alternate channels, where available."