CUSTOMER TRUST
Microsoft asserts clients’ rights in FBI e-mail searches case
San Francisco — Microsoft’s effort to halt the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) sneak-and-peak searches of e-mails may ride on whether the company is allowed to defend its customers’ constitutional rights. The judge who will decide whether the case can go ahead told the company’s lawyers to be ready in court on Monday to deal with earlier rulings that undercut their arguments. At stake is half of Microsoft’s case to block the US from secretly accessing customer data stored in the cloud, including e-mail. Microsoft drew support from tech leaders including Apple, Google and Amazon.com when it sued the US justice department in April. The tech companies say the very future of mobile and cloud computing is at risk if customers cannot trust that their data will remain private. The justice department argues it needs such digital tools to help fight increasingly sophisticated criminals and terrorists who are savvy at using technology to communicate and hide their tracks. Disclosing...
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