Lexpert’s September cover.
The impending decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in United States v. Microsoft Corp. could reverberate throughout the cloud-computing environment worldwide.
The case, which has become known as "Microsoft Ireland," was heard on Sept. 9. It puts in issue the scope of the U.S. government's power to seize the personal information of a company's clients, even when the data reside on a company server located abroad.
"If the appeals court upholds the decision of the lower courts, Canadian companies in the U.S. will find that they might be subject to U.S. jurisdiction in respect of any data they control, whether it is located in the U.S., in Canada, or elsewhere," says Chantal Bernier, the former interim privacy commissioner of Canada who now practises with Dentons Canada LLP.
Lexpert contributor Julius Melnitzer reports on the Microsoft Ireland case.