Appeals Court: Noncitizens Protected by Electronic Communications Privacy Act
A federal appeals court has ruled in Suzlon Energy v. Microsoft Corp. that foreign citizens are protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The decision is not that surprising as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act protects consumer data, without regard to nationality, by forbidding companies from disclosing communications data with third parties in most circumstances. Suzlon involved a civil suit in which Microsoft refused to disclose data from the Hotmail email account of Rajagopalan Sridhar, an Indian citizen. The court ruled that Sridhar was protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and that Microsoft correctly refused to disclose communications from Sridhar's email account. For more information, see EPIC: Wiretapping.
October 4, 2011| Share:
