According to the NYT, the case could signal a new trend where US tech firms like Microsoft and Google take a stand against heavy-handed US law enforcement. Their business prospects outside the US have dipped considerably since the Edward Snowden revelations, which showed them to be largely complicit in (possibly illegal) US surveillance overseas. That submissiveness has possibly cost the US tech industry hundreds of billions of dollars in sales in Europe, China and elsewhere, according to some estimates. Though they've built more server farms abroad to satisfy local authorities, the case has raised alarm bells in the European parliament -- which isn't thrilled about Microsoft handing private data to US authorities. The hearing is scheduled for next month, and looks to be just the beginning of a Big Tech vs. US government battle over privacy -- and money, of course.