Court

An article went live on BBC News this morning (Microsoft ‘must release’ data held on Dublin server) which I hadn’t seen initially and was brought to my attention. The subject of the article is a US court case where a judge has ruled that Microsoft must hand over email records for a mailbox which is held on one of the servers in the Dublin, otherwise known to Microsoft Azure fans as the North Europe region.

Data sovereignty has always been an issue plaguing people considering a move to consume public cloud services and this case looks set to throw the whole debate up into the air once more.

The US government argue that they should be allowed to access the data in terms similar to those of a subpoena which grants them the right to request documents held in any country by the person subpoenaed however Microsoft contest against this and comments from the EU Commission agree with Microsoft. I’m in the camp of the Microsoft, the EU and the consumers among us all that if my data resides in outside of US jurisdiction that the US shouldn’t be able to just walk in and a take a copy. In all honesty, they probably already have a copy thanks to the NSA but unfortunately for them, that wouldn’t be admissible in court as evidence. Anybody else watch the Good Wife recently?

I really hope Microsoft battle this one through and that the EU member states back Microsoft in any appeals they make. The record and the law needs to be set the record straight with the US on the subject of data sovereignty. This is defiantly going to be a hot topic to watch out for.