I'm sending this to you because it's an interesting dispute that touches on some of the issues we're concerned about. It shows as well the complexity of the issue (storing, controlling, processing and accessing data in a foreign jurisdiction). Don't forward it to others, it comes from a payed service. Update from today: "EUROPEAN COMMISSION WADES INTO US DATA CASE: When do governments have the right to gain access to people’s digital data when that information is held overseas? The Commission said Thursday it would file an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in connection to a case involving American authorities’ efforts to obtain digital information held in a Microsoft data server in Ireland. The Commission stressed that it would not be taking sides with its filing. Instead, EU policymakers want to outline what is — and isn’t — allowed under the region’s tough privacy rules. “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 U.S. Supreme Court,” the Commission said. Brussels may be hedging its bets by staying neutral, but the rest of the tech world is playing close attention to this data warrant case. Microsoft previously challenged (and won) the search warrant brought by U.S. officials, claiming that handing over the data held in Ireland was not legal and set a dangerous precedent. Other tech companies and privacy advocates have backed Microsoft’s position, though some officials (even in Europe) say access to such borderless data is needed to fight security threats. Whatever the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual decision, it’s likely to set a precedent — either for limits to what authorities can demand companies hand over, or for a push by domestic agencies to ask for information held overseas. When that happens, the Commission will no longer be able to stay neutral." Cheers, Erika Sent from my iPhone