Microsoft must turn over a customer's emails stored on a server in Ireland to the U.S. government in response to a search warrant, a federal judge has ruled.
After hearing oral arguments from both Microsoft and the federal government, Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan upheld a lower court ruling compelling Microsoft to give up the records, according to International Business Times.
The government had obtained a search warrant for the data from one Outlook email account but Microsoft resisted, saying since the emails were stored in Ireland, they were beyond the reach and jurisdiction of the U.S. government.
Microsoft also argued that to give up the records amounted to illegal search and seizure frowned upon by the Constitution. The company's protest was joined by a chorus of like-minded companies, including Apple, Verizon, Cisco and AT&T.
