Microsoft has sued the US Justice Department in an attempt to prevent authorities from taking customers’ e-mail without their knowledge, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit filed in the US Federal Court in Seattle claims that the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act is unconstitutional, as it violates Microsoft’s First Amendment free speech rights and customers’ Fourth Amendment right to know if their property has been searched or seized by the government.
Microsoft said it was concerned with protecting civil liberties and wants to be able to sell internet services customers trust. Secrecy orders on warrants generally prevent the company from telling customers about the request for long or even unlimited periods. The filing states that federal courts have issued nearly 2,600 secrecy orders to Microsoft over the last 18 months.
Microsoft chief legal officer Brad Smith said, “It’s very important for businesses to know when the government is accessing their file room, whether the file room is down the hall or in the cloud. People shouldn’t lose their rights simply because technology is moving to the cloud.” The Justice Department said it was reviewing the filing.
