US Judge Breaks Precedent, Orders Google To Give Foreign Emails To FBI

Google was betting on a January 24 ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that it would not rehear the Justice Department's arguments for why it needed access to user data from Microsoft's servers located in Ireland. Many believed that decision might create some legal guidance for cases like this one in which the laws on the books are considered outdated and insufficient.

The legal language of "possessory interest", for example, is often used to define temporary ownership over real estate. Attempting to determine ownership over abstract property in the form of data isn't easy with the current legal system.

In the ruling against Google, Judge Rueter is arguing that even though "the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centres abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States." It's unclear if that decision means that evidence from a foreign server would be a violation of privacy if disclosed in a US court of law.

Clarity is what tech companies and privacy advocates have been pushing for over the years. Both the Microsoft and Google cases relied on warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act from 1986. A lot has changed about the flow of information since then and in a globalized world, tech giants have to work with competing international privacy laws. If Judge Rueter's opinion stands, it could put the US in violation of international treaties.

Google argued that because it stores pieces of emails on different servers in order to streamline its network performance, it might not even know where the information that's being requested is actually stored. The search giant released a statement today saying, "The magistrate in this case departed from precedent, and we plan to appeal the decision. We will continue to push back on overbroad warrants."

These types of cases will either have to make their way to the Supreme Court or Congress will have to act. With the chaotic state of the US government at the moment, it's impossible to say how either of those options might work out.