Microsoft and the privacy of your data in the cloud

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Despite its name the cloud has a physical presence. It is in reality a series of data centers around the world, housing millions of powerful computers that make these things possible.

This data is your data, just as the data on your hard drive is yours, but it resides in data centers managed by technology companies.

Microsoft’s data center located in Dublin, Ireland has been getting a lot of attention. The U.S government served Microsoft with a search warrant seeking to compel us to provide email content stored exclusively in the Dublin data center. Microsoft is resisting this warrant on the grounds that digital content should have the same privacy protections as physical content. The U.S. government would not attempt to travel to another country and execute a search warrant. The approach shouldn’t change just because that content is stored digitally.

We believe the government’s approach is ultimately putting the privacy rights of Americans at risk and challenging the ability of people around the world to rely on the privacy protections of their own governments and laws. It risks undermining trust in technology.