NZ Privacy Commissioner John Edwards has filed a submission to the US Supreme Court in the 'United States v Microsoft' case that data protection officers across the globe have been watching.This case revolves around the legality of the US Government to compel Microsoft to hand over data from its Irish Data Centre using a US domestic search warrant.Commissioner Edwards notes that the US Government could use a mutual legal assistance agreement which would comply with local laws (at least in New Zealand), and that it's important to follow well established processes to ensure "data-holding entities ... are not saddled with conflicting legal obligations". It could be assumed that the US Government may wish to avoid foreign courts intervening in data being handed over. The US Government and the European Union have many differences on Data Protection.This case is critical to establishing precedent and how much cloud customers, including foreign governments, can trust that their data is safe on US-company clouds. The US Government may end up wishing it didn't force the Supreme Court to rule on this.
