
The Supreme Court Will Decide If the US Can Access Anyone's Data on Earth - runesoerensen
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gy54zb/us-v-microsoft-supreme-court
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freedomben
This will have immense ramifications on the ability of US companies to do
business overseas. Even if there are no legal barriers erected (which I
doubt), there will unquestionably be marketing barriers. If there were a
company I did business with that had a home-country ruling like this, I would
definitely think twice about how much I trust their government.

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jorvi
There already are legal barriers? Even if the Supreme Court decides this is
legal, EU and Irish law make it illegal, and Microsoft will be in extremely
deep shit if they actually share the data.

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freedomben
That adds a fascinating wrinkle to it, what happens if the EU makes it illegal
to share the data, and the US requires it? A company could find themselves in
between a rock and a hard place, forced to violate the dictates of at least
one powerful governmental force.

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na85
Not that interesting, really.

Nobody forces Microsoft to exist in the EU, or to sell their software to EU
citizens. They would simply be forced out of that market.

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manfredo
Correct, but at the same time what happens to EU companies selling software
services in the US? If the EU companies don't fork over data will they get
restricted too? I'm not sure if isolating every jurisdiction into its own tech
ecosystem is an achievable (let alone sustainable) direction. To a certain
extent, Microsoft (and presumably others) are attempting to do this for their
data[1] by hiring data trustees in other countries. Essentially, Microsoft
still develops the technical services but hires another company, which does
not have US presence, to hold that data and is subject to the (presumably
stronger) privacy laws of the country it is located in.

I'm not sure how resilient this is to coercion by the US government. Maybe the
US government could forbid Microsoft from doing business with the data trustee
unless the the trustee gives up user data.

1\.
[https://news.microsoft.com/europe/2015/11/11/45283/](https://news.microsoft.com/europe/2015/11/11/45283/)

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toomuchtodo
EU companies (typically) don't have a nexus or operating presence in the US,
therefore they can't be coerced to release requested data (unless the US
Government is going to request three letter agencies to null route their
traffic at internet exchanges [or take other adverse actions against their
traffic]).

Your shell game you suggest will not withstand the scrutiny of an intelligent
judge and an aggressive prosecutor.

Source: A lifetime ago, I was asked as a consultant to spec and site
infrastructure out of the reach of the US government with the help of an
international law attorney.

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manfredo
What's to keep the US government from fining companies or suspending their
ability to do business until they give up user data? For example, London
suspending Uber's ability to operate in the city.

While I'd agree that small-ish foreign companies can probably fly under the
radar, I don't think any company that receives payments from US customers is
immune to coercion from the US. If the US government can impede a company's
ability to access US customers then that's an ability to compel a company to
give up data.

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tobylane
Worth noting that Uber's licence to operate in the UK is issued to a UK
registered company.

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manfredo
More specifically, the Supreme Court is deciding whether the US can compel
companies with a US presence to hand over data stored in other countries.

"Anyone's data on Earth" is a significant exaggeration. It's not like the US
is going to demand Putin's emails (at least not through the courts, who knows
what they're trying to do clandestinely).

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freedomben
I'm not certain it _is_ a significant exaggeration, nor am I certain the US
wouldn't demand Putin's email :-)

In practice you're probably right, but the idea of leaving things up to the
discretion of politicians, particularly the ones we tend to elect, terrifies
me.

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newscracker
Even if the court decides that companies can be compelled to provide
information stored in servers in other countries, I don't see this going
anywhere without mutual reciprocative agreements with other countries. Very
few countries would want data about/owned by their citizens to be given away
directly or indirectly. Even then, it may be a long drawn process, just like
with any other cross border criminal investigations.

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DomreiRoam
It's time to enforce the fact that subsidiaries are independent companies that
are only subject to their place of incorporation. Director of local companies
have responsibility. A shareholder should only influence a company through the
general assembly and is his lasting influence should be exercised by his
choice of board member.

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featherverse
This is the second time I've seen this story with a completely misleading
headline, it makes a person wonder what the agenda is when creating the
headlines.

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dingo_bat
Isn't the NSA already doing this the best they can? Kind of an irrelevant
thing for the SC to worry about.

