Skip to main content

U.S. government remains committed to its fight to gain access to overseas data

microsoft sues us government gag orders 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Privacy remains one of the more bitterly debated aspects of technology — and not just in terms of criminals gaining access to personal or proprietary business information using nefarious means. Increasingly, the question of government access to the same information has become a controversial issue, and Microsoft has been spearheading a fight with the U.S. government over access to information stored on servers located in other countries.

In July 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that while the Stored Communications Act does indeed allow the U.S. government to demand access to information stored on servers located on U.S. soil, information stored on servers overseas is off limits without going through the relevant local legal process. Nevertheless, the U.S. government hasn’t given up on its fight to gain access to that data, and asked the appellate court on Thursday to reconsider its decision, as Ars Technica reports.

Recommended Videos

Microsoft’s argument remains the same as it was preceding July’s ruling — every Microsoft customer has the right to be protected by local laws rather than those of a foreign government, such as in the case of the Dublin, Ireland, servers that were the subject of the previous ruling. The appellate court noted that at least in the case at hand, a method already exists to compel the release of information using local laws. The Mutual Legal Assistant Treaty allows the U.S. government to request and receive local warrants applicable to Microsoft subsidiaries located in Ireland.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The U.S. government argues, however, that national interests are at stak,e and that Microsoft, as a for-profit private company, should not be allowed to represent its clients in terms of these sorts of privacy issues. As the government stated in its request for reconsideration, “It cannot be true that the ‘focus’ of the statutory provision is privacy, but the protection of that privacy interest rests entirely on the profit-driven decisions of a private business, with no choice by or consultation with the owner of the account and the beneficiary of the privacy interest.”

Putting things even more strongly, the government said, “The Opinion has created a regime where electronic communication service providers — private, for-profit businesses answerable only to their shareholders — can thwart legitimate and important criminal and national security investigations, while providing no offsetting, principled privacy protections.” Of course, Microsoft disagrees with the government’s position and isn’t backing down — a move that’s being monitored by a vast array of companies that could be impacted by the decision and that are largely supporting Microsft’s efforts.

If the appeals court refuses to rehear the case, then the government would likely be inclined to take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. When that decision will be made remains up in the air, because the appellate court has not indicated when it will consider the government’s request.

Mark Coppock
Mark Coppock is a Freelance Writer at Digital Trends covering primarily laptop and other computing technologies. He has…
Nvidia’s AI obsession is causing delays in its PC business
Logo on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080.

Component manufacturer, Nvidia appears to be short on GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs for laptops, which were originally set to launch in January.

Reports indicate that the supplier has been so focused on developing AI Chips that other parts of its business have lapsed. This has caused delays in supplying the GeForce RTX 50 Series chips to computing partners.

Read more
Our reliance on AI-generated news could lead to more bank runs, per new report
European Union

Fake news reports and disinformation campaigns driven by generative AI pose a significant risk to causing bank runs, according to a new study out of the U.K.

Per the research firm, Say No to Disinfo, and communications company Fenimore Harper, generative AI systems can easily be leveraged to create fake stories appearing on social media that suggest banks suffer from specific security deficiencies or that their depositors' money is not safe.

Read more
What is Mistral’s Le Chat?
what is mistral le chat 7b v0 1

While the AI world remains fixated on how China's DeepSeek is turning the American AI industry on its ear, Europe's Mistral AI company has quietly produced a capable and open-source alternative to the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini. Here's everything you need to know about it.
What is Le Chat?
Mistral's Le Chat application is a chatbot akin to ChatGPT or Gemini. It enables users to generate text and images, as well as computer code. It also can deploy agentic AI assistants to streamline existing workflows. "Whether you're analyzing data, writing code, or creating content, access cross-domain expertise through intuitive interfaces designed for both technical and non-technical users," Mistral's landing page reads. Per the company, Le Chat can reason, reflect, and respond ten times faster than other chat assistants such as OpenAI's GPT-4o, Anthropic Claude's Sonnet 3.5, and DeepSeek R1 -- generating up to 1,000 words per minute.
When was Le Chat released?
The chatbot was introduced on X as “your ultimate AI sidekick for life and work” on February 6th, when it went live on the web and mobile.
What can Le Chat do?
Like its competitors, Mistral's Le Chat can perform a variety of generative functions, from uploading and analyzing documents, to planning and tracking projects, to generating text and images. It can access the internet as well, enabling the system to return up-to-date facts and figures to a variety of user queries.

Introducing le Chat by Mistral AI
How to sign up for Le Chat
It's easy to get started using Le Chat. First, you'll need to navigate to the Le Chat website. Then, simply click on the "sign up" radio button and enter your personal information. You'll need to confirm your details via email before you officially log in and begin using the chatbot.

Read more