Americans have a new champion for privacy -- Microsoft. Software giant squares off with Feds over private customer data held overseas

Americans concerned about their privacy have a new champion, and he comes from an unlikely stable - the ranks of Microsoft. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, is preparing to fight against the U.S. government as they demand Microsoft hand over private, encrypted communications held on an overseas server.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The U.S. government has become notorious for its overreach and its appetite for information appears insatiable. Following leaks about the National Security Agency (NSA) and an international spy scandal, many private firms have moved to rebuild public trust that their products are safe from prying government eyes.

The problem is that the public will not use technology they don't trust. Many people have secrets and private communications they expect to remain private. Doctors and lawyers need to be able to communicate frankly, as do spouses and business associates. People communicate sensitive plans and information and share photos and other media online that they intend only for the eyes of the recipient.

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The reasons for these communications may be entirely innocent, or they could occasionally be nefarious, but should it be monitored and should it be subject to seizure, especially when it is hosted overseas?

The U.S. government is demanding that Microsoft hand over encrypted information it has on a server in Dublin, Ireland. The information is needed for a criminal narcotics investigation. However, the Irish government has ordered that data remain private. The case involves a U.S. citizen, but challenges the sovereignty of a foreign nation and its privacy laws.

Microsoft, which holds the key to the data is now caught in a foreign policy exchange that ought to be addressed between heads of states as opposed to being pressured to act unilaterally. Although Microsoft is based in the USA, it is a mulit-national corporation and violating the privacy of users at the request of the U.S. government could harms its international reputation and business.

As a result of this, Microsoft has voluntarily entered into contempt of a court order to hand over the information.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel has replied. A document filed in the company's appeal to the court says, "The power to embark on unilateral law enforcement incursions into a foreign sovereign country - directly or indirectly - has profound foreign policy consequences. Worse still, it threatens the privacy of US citizens."

Smith believes that if Microsoft loses the argument, it could jeopardize the privacy of all Americans who use Microsoft products.

Smith acknowledged in an interview with The Guardian, that U.S. government typically curtails some civil liberties in time of war, but now, with the war on terror unlikely to ever end, the government has a permanent nemesis and therefore a permanent excuse to infringe on classic liberties.

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There has to be a balance between safety and privacy, Smith explained, and he believes the current case will bring about just that debate. He also expects that the pendulum will swing back the opposite direction it has moved since 9/11.

"Both are not just important goals but important values for society. It's not as if we can throw one aside for the other," Smith said.

However, this debate also an international one. With data shared across borders and stored overseas, a variety of legal systems apply and legal U.S. demands could be illegal elsewhere. What is Microsoft to do? Should Microsoft, a multi-national corporation obey the laws of one country and defy the laws of another based on an arbitrary decision rule? What if a foreign regime demanded Microsoft hand over sensitive information on Americans? What if the information could impact an individual's human rights?

At the same time Microsoft is dueling to maintain customer privacy, there is awareness that terrorists and other evildoers are using those same, encrypted, protected systems to organize and to exchange information for the purpose of doing evil.

Should their information be protected too? What if one nation's evil is another's virtue? Whose moral standard ought to apply?

The decision isn't one that should be made by Microsoft alone, nor should it be up to the U.S. government to decide the law for all other nations. A genuine international dialogue is needed on the issue.

In the meantime, the fight between Microsoft and the U.S. government over your privacy rights continues.

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