Microsoft Wins Again, In Irish-Server Email Privacy Case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has denied the government’s request for an en banc hearing, in the closely-watched Microsoft email case. This leaves intact a Second Circuit panel ruling that denied a government request – part of a drug case – to see private emails that were stored on a server in Ireland. An article in Bloomberg BNA looks at the decision and why an appeal by the DOJ is quite likely, as is a revisiting of the issue by Congress. For now, the conclusion is that the warrant provisions of the Stored Communications Act do not apply to emails “stored” overseas.