In three decades, the US government has not reformed the federal law that places restrictions on the authorities of that country on access to electronic data of its citizens.
that is why the multinational technology Microsoft filed a lawsuit Thursday against Washington, in order to pressure Congress to update the law “reasonable rules”.
the company argues that authorities used the Privacy Act on Electronic Communications (ECPA, its acronym in English) to ask users’ private data related to 2,576 lawsuits.
in addition, these requests were accompanied by a court order that prevented the company to inform users that had shared their personal information.
the president and legal director of Microsoft, Brad Smith, said Thursday the company blog that he felt the government “he took advantage of the transition of computing to the cloud to expand its power to conduct secret investigations”.
the cloud computing is the storage of information on the internet rather than hardware, role played computers above.
with this new method, millions of users store personal information such as e-mails, photos and banking information.
Before the cloud
In 1986, the US government approved the federal law ECPA that put restrictions on the authorities on access to electronic data computer also wiretap any citizen of the country.
the ECPA defines electronic communications as “any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, electromagnetic system , optical or photoelectric affecting interstate or foreign commerce. “
with digital transformations that have followed, the ECPA has become unpopular among technology companies, says BBC reporter, Dave Lee.
After a series of proposed reforms and approved by a congressional committee, the legislation could be amended soon, says Lee.
However, for Microsoft it was time to undertake legal action to “defend what we believe are the constitutional and fundamental rights of our clients, those that protect the privacy and facilitate free expression.”
“the citizens do not lose their rights when they transfer your private information physical storage to the cloud, “argued the company in the demand, according to Reuters.
” routine “
The demand represents the latest clash between technology giants in US against the government, while Apple is calling on Congress to lead the discussion on the balance between privacy and national security, said Dave Lee, BBC journalist.
the president of Microsoft said that the company “was not taken lightly,” take legal action against the government.
“We believe that, with few exceptions, consumers and businesses have the right to know when the government access their e -mails or files “.
” Even so, it has become routine for the authorities to issue court orders requiring providers to e-mails kept secret demands. We believe this goes too far ” he said.
the Electronic Frontier foundation (EFF, for its acronym in English), which advocates digital rights, supported the decision by Microsoft in an e-mail sent to the BBC.
“These warrants will restrict freedom of speech and violate the First Amendment of the Constitution (…) we applaud Microsoft for defying the gag that prevents companies to be more transparent with their customers,” he said.
So far, the Justice Department has issued no comment.
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