Venable managing director of cybersecurity services Ari Schwartz was quoted in a July 14, 2016 SC Magazine article on an appeals court ruling that the federal government cannot force Microsoft to turn over customer emails stored on a server in Ireland. The ruling at least temporarily caps a legal battle where Microsoft was held in contempt for refusing to turn over emails to the government.
"The ruling really puts the U.S. on an even playing field with other governments and will help in future conversations on privacy," said Schwartz. "For national security, we will have to see how tech companies cooperate with law enforcement moving forward. There has been an effort to build U.S.-U.K. relations that should help in a case like this, but law enforcement will need to come to the table to work with companies to come up with a broader agreement."