Microsoft Asserts Clients’ Rights in FBI E-Mail Searches Fight

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) effort to halt the FBI’s so-called sneak-and-peek searches of e-mails may ride on whether it’s allowed to defend its customers’ constitutional rights. The judge who will decide whether the case can go ahead told the company’s lawyers to be ready in court Monday to address earlier rulings that undercut their arguments.
As quoted in the press release:

At stake is half of Microsoft’s case to block the U.S. from secretly accessing customer data stored in the cloud, including e-mail.
Microsoft drew support from tech leaders including Apple Inc., Google and Amazon.com Inc. when it sued the U.S. Justice Department in April. They say the very future of mobile and cloud computing is at risk if customers can’t trust that their data will remain private. The federal law allowing searches goes “far beyond any necessary limits” and infringes users’ Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure, they contend.

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