A virtual who’s who of technology companies have stepped forward today, backing Microsoft in their challenge to US government orders to hand over private emails stored on servers outside of the United States.
Microsoft has been resisting the effort for quite some time in court, rejecting the idea that the US can unilaterally impose search warrants on companies overseas as a potentially dangerous precedent.
Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith has vowed the company will continue to resist the orders to hand over the data on servers in Ireland, saying the challenge was “inevitable” because the US is eroding privacy in the current war.
Smith noted that the US would be outraged if a foreign country used the same policy to seize data on US-located servers, and cautioned that the US couldn’t expect that other governments wouldn’t follow their example.
Even though the case is now over a year old, it remains unclear whose emails the Obama Administration is seeking from the Ireland-based server.
Yeah, now they all pretend to care about privacy after they got caught a couple times too many bending over backwards for the NSA. With these corrupt corporations it's always about publicity. They know very well they'll most likely lose given that corrupt "judges" are just another tool of the establishment's war against the innocent civilian population.
You know, this is all kabuki, right? These companies really don't care. They know that the American people will not stop using them. Some might – most won't. Look at Google…how many people use Google's apps – mapping, email, etc? Some of them are pretty good – helpful. Now, how many are going to stop using these apps? Some will – most won't – either because they don't care themselves or don't understand the ramifications of the relationship between Google, for example, and the government.Or because they've become reliant upon these apps.
I have a friend in Cali who refuses to fly because he doesn't want the gov to know where he's going because it's none of their business. I keep telling him they know when he walks down the street – they probably knows when he breaks wind. He has a smart phone so…they know where he is. It's the principle, he says. I tell him he's a fool. We've already lost the battle. With this Congress – and the next…next…next…next…nothing is going to change.
I'm convinced that there are not enough real Patriots who get elected and serve to protect what this country stood for anymore. When the current denizens of Capitol Hill start spouting on about protecting the Constitution, we are best served by putting our hands over our wallets and kicking our disbelief into full-on self-protect mode.
But, that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion…
Curmudgeon Vermont; you earn 3 atta-boy's for those comments. "They know when he breaks wind"; I thought I felt my cell-phone vibrate recently when I broke wind, "as loud as a thunderclap", as Chaucer put it. "not enough real patriots in congress". But, as Will Rodgers put it, "we have the best congress money can buy" "the denizens of capital hill protecting the constitution"; Is that those tattered scraps of paper on the floor that they are walking all over? The immortal George Bush put it this way; "the constitution ain't nothing but a god-damned piece of paper".