“Apple, Cisco, AT&T and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have joined Microsoft’ campaign against US warrants on data held on Irish servers,” Dave Neal reports for The Inquirer.
“Apple, Cisco and AT&T reportedly filed amicus curiae briefs, and the EFF has released a statement. It said that it is joining Microsoft’s case and warns that letting the warrants go ahead will have some very bad implications for privacy,” Neal reports. “‘The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has urged a federal court to block a US search warrant ordering Microsoft to turn over a customer’s emails held in an overseas server, arguing that the case has dangerous privacy implications for Internet users everywhere,’ it said on Friday.”
“‘The Fourth Amendment protects from unreasonable search and seizure. You can’t ignore the ‘seizure’ part just because the property is digital and not physical,’ added EFF staff attorney Hanni Fakhoury in the organisation’s support for Microsoft’s effort to quash the warrant,” Neal reports. “‘Ignoring this basic point has dangerous implications – it could open the door to unfounded law enforcement access to and collection of data stored around the world.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
The U.S government should print the Constitution on its toilet paper since it’s been figuratively wiping its collective ass with it for quite some time already. Plus, then there’d at least be the off chance that somebody in the government might actually read it.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. – Ronald Reagan, 1961
Visit the Apple-backed reformgovernmentsurveillance.com today.
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U.S. NSA watching, tracking phone users with Google Maps – January 28, 2014
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I think that Reagan quote is from “The Jersey City Speech,” September 1 of 1980. Ronnie was still hosting tv’s General Electric Theater in ’61.
Ronald Reagan speech, given before the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce on March 30, 1961
https://archive.org/details/RonaldReagan-EncroachingControl
thank you for the correction.
Funny how anyone would quote Ronnie Raygun regarding privacy. He, as Screen Actors Guild President, was working as a spy against his own membership.
From Wikipedia
“Secret FBI informant in Hollywood
During the late 1940s, Reagan and his wife provided the FBI with names of actors within the motion picture industry whom they believed to be communist sympathizers, though he expressed reservations; he said “Do they expect us to constitute ourselves as a little FBI of our own and determine just who is a Commie and who isn’t?””
In America, citizens have a right to be Communists or whatever else they choose to be. He cravenly worked with J Edna Hoover to politically persecute Americans who did nothing illegal or wrong and ruined many careers.
To finish the quote from the Wikipedia article that you so conveniently edited:
Reagan testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on the subject as well. A fervent anti-communist, he reaffirmed his commitment to democratic principles, stating, “I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment.”
Your assertion that he “cravenly” worked with “J Edna Hoover” (and, I assume, Edna’s brother J. Edgar) is nowhere supported in the article you reference. Back it up or retract it.
And keep in mind that people learn; in the mid-40’s timeframe you reference, Reagan was left-leaning, but moved to the right starting in the early 50’s. “A man who is not a liberal when young has no heart; a man who is not a conservative when older has no brain.”
J Edna Hoover is the term applied to the closeted Gay FBI director that used the agency to gather intel on politicians and others that might threaten him. It is not a typo- The FBI director from the 1920’s through the 1970’s was gay.
Ah nice to see that constitution where it now belongs.
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve to have their constitution serve as toilet paper.
I like this statement from the article: “Ignoring this basic point [seizure] has dangerous implications – it could open the door to unfounded law enforcement access to and collection of data stored around the world.”
It’s already happened, and it continues to happen. It’s like a science fiction story where corporations take over the world in the future, although right now the reality is that some corporations (notably Apple) are trying to prevent the government from taking over the world. Governments as we know it are now obsolete, there needs to be a new and different way to move humanity forward, past the 1984 scenario that the United Hates is so desperate to attain.
I would NOT say that the US government, as intended and carefully designed in the US Constitution was remotely ‘obsolete’. It’s simply that criminals, both inside and outside the US government, have literally taken over via their various oligarchies and turned it into what I call a Neo-Feudalist government where We The People are lorded over by anyone with ca$h and ‘power’. That means, mainly, the Corporate Oligarchy.
A better expression perhaps would be that Governments as we KNEW them are now F*KED due to their criminalization. And no, it makes zero difference which of the two political parties we’re discussing. They’re both implicated, both treasonous scum.
That has always been the case the powerful ‘families’ did run things and their descendants in various forms still do.
As per usual Derek a most insightful and enjoyable post. The ideals and ideas of the US constitution are certainly valuable and not obsolete but as you point out the oligarchies have indeed taken over. For that to happen though, the power of the people has been taken away, their rights eroded. Whether or not the American people will seize those rights and make their constitution what is should be “words to live by” remains to be seen.
Meanwhile the total disregard of that constitution by those in power, rightfully make them “words to wipe bye” and that is indeed unfortunate.
It’s people like you as I’ve said before that give me hope as to what America could be, but right now, well they are the global wannabe bully, and they are not doing anyone any favors.
I look forward to reading more of your posts at MDN. Enjoy.
Hey Holder, pass me the Charmin.
‘The Fourth Amendment protects from unreasonable search and seizure. You can’t ignore the ‘seizure’ part just because the property is digital and not physical,’ added EFF staff attorney Hanni Fakhoury…
Yes, but as he knows better than I, the US Constitution is specific to US citizens on US soil. It has nothing to say about what happens to US citizens when they are outside the USA.
I have no idea why this data is over in Ireland. But it’s off US soil and is not protected by the Fourth Amendment. It is now a question that must be directed to Irish law.
In the future Microsoft: Keep US citizen data INSIDE the USA, then you can take such overreaching warrants and tear them up as blatantly unconstitutional. Once the data left the USA, that’s an entirely different scenario. Very naughty Microsoft!
What is far more disturbing is the current scandal involving Harris Stingray/Trigger Fish International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) locators.
These devices are being bought by the DoD and distributed to state and local police for the warrantless hacking of your cell phone- IPhones included. They spoof a cell tower and then do their dirty work without your knowledge, permission or probable cause.
Our DoJ is actively trying to hide the records of even the existence of these devices in law enforcement hands. Recently US Marshals came and confiscated documents requested under FOIA by various groups before they could be seen. Does that sound like open government to you?
There is a simple solution to this — get another country (e.g. EU) to subpoena data from computers based on US soil and mass-tap the US phone lines.
Only then will we get bipartisan international treaties on data requests.
Electronic documents and personal property are the same thing. It’s no different than an employee stealing email addresses out of the work computer. It’s all intellectual property.