The U.S. government is misusing generalized warrants,...
The U.S. government is misusing generalized warrants, and Congress should act, said Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith at a Brookings Institute event. Microsoft in early June challenged in the U.S. District Court in New York City (http://wapo.st/UFFjLs) a U.S. federal…
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judge’s order to turn over a European customer’s data stored in Dublin, Ireland (http://bit.ly/1nBQ20m). The warrant was overbroad and should not apply to data stored overseas, Smith said Tuesday. “The law applies where the data resides.” The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) “did not give the government the authority to ask technology companies to break down the digital doors of their facilities and go look at what was inside and turn it over to the United States government,” he said. If companies allow the U.S. government to obtain information stored overseas, “on what basis can the United States possibly stand up and object when other governments seek to reach into data centers here in the United States?” Smith asked. Protecting the rights of Americans -- primarily the Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure -- means “we as a country need to pursue principles that can be applied across the board,” he said. Smith urged Congress to codify these principles and ensure the executive branch is “accountable to the courts.” He also pressed the Senate to follow the House and “close the door on unfettered” bulk data collection. The House in May passed the USA Freedom Act (HR-3361), which would limit the government’s surveillance programs authorized under the Patriot Act (CD May 23 p9). Last week, the House also amended the Department of Defense Appropriations bill (HR-4870) to prohibit the use of funds for warrantless searches of certain data collected under the Patriot Act (CD June 23 p14). “We should all hope the Senate can get us the rest of the way,” Smith said. “So the public here and around the world can have the trust it deserves in the technology it uses.”