Microsoft sues feds over secrecy orders on customer data

SEATTLE -- Microsoft sued the U.S. government on Thursday, arguing that a law that can be used to prohibit technology companies from telling customers when law enforcement comes looking for their data is overly broad and unconstitutional.

When law enforcement agencies seek the content of someone's email account or documents stored online, they can request a court order that bars Microsoft or other Internet service providers from informing the user that their documents were seized. Microsoft has received almost 2,600 such secrecy orders in the last 18 months, the Seattle-area company said. Most contain no fixed end date that would allow the company to inform its customers of the search.

Before people started storing much of their personal information online, Microsoft says, government agencies were required to give notice when seeking personal papers or letters, except in the rarest of circumstances.

The government "has exploited the transition to cloud computing as a means of expanding its power to conduct secret investigations," Microsoft said in its lawsuit, which names the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The government contends that such gag orders are necessary because subjects could change their behavior if made aware of investigations.

Microsoft's lawsuit is the latest challenge by the U.S. technology industry to the reach of law enforcement into cyberspace. The industry is facing customers worried about the security of their data stored online in the wake of Edward Snowden's disclosures about data collection by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Microsoft, through its president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, has pushed for better defined boundaries of government reach, staking out a high-profile stance in favor of protections for data stored online that reflect the principles applied to the era when most documents were stored in desk drawers and safes.

Earlier this year, Apple launched a high-profile fight, backed by many companies and civil liberties groups, to prevent the FBI from forcing the company to disable an encryption measure on an iPhone connected to a mass shooting.

Microsoft is in a years-long fight with the U.S. Justice Department over the terms of law enforcement reach across borders. That case, which has also drawn broad support from business and civil liberties groups, challenges a prosecutor's request for Microsoft customer data stored abroad. The company's appeal is awaiting a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit filed on Thursday says the portion of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that authorizes such gag orders violates Microsoft customers' Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. The company also says the orders are a violation of the company's First Amendment rights to communicate with its customers and discuss government behavior.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Microsoft sues feds over secrecy orders on customer data ."