If you’ve been following the news, you know how serious Microsoft is when it comes to privacy and data protection. According to ZDNet, the company disagrees with the forcing of U.S.-based companies by the U.S. government to hand over data that is stored overseas, expressing worries that it would further harm relations between the U.S. and the E.U..

Mirosoft's outside counsel, Joshua Rosenkranz, has recently posted a letter to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in which he argues that the matter of cross-border data transfers “easily gives rise to international discord”. Rosenkranz further added that the Congress should decide whether allowing the U.S. government to extend its email privacy laws overseas “outweighs the risks to U.S. industry and U.S.-E.U. relations.”

The letter comes right as the European Court of Justice ruled the legal framework for Europe-U.S. data transfers – called the Safe Harbor Framework – invalid. The decision could mean that as many as 5000 businesses will have to revisit their data transfer procedure as a result.

Last year, Microsoft was found in contempt of court over the refusal to comply with a U.S. court search warrant that ordered the company to hand over personal information of customers undergoing investigation that was stored in a Dublin datacenter.

Source: ZDNet