Microsoft pledges to challenge government claims for user data

Microsoft has pledged to challenge all government requests for access to information from its customers in an effort to respond to growing European Union control over the security of data sent to the United States.

The software giant will also compensate users whose information is inappropriately disclosed to government agencies, Microsoft’s privacy officer Julie Brill said in a blog post Thursday.

Microsoft is one of many large tech companies struggling to continue to legally send data to the United States after a landmark judgment by an EU court in July overturned the main system used to transfer data. information from Europe to the United States, called Privacy Shield. The judges based their decision on concerns that user information was not protected by US intelligence services.

Companies that transfer data to the United States using “contract terms” – one of the few remaining legal methods – must now implement additional privacy measures, such as encryption. If companies or regulators believe customer data is unsafe in the United States or any other destination, they can stop those transfers altogether.

“We believe the new measures we are announcing today go beyond the law,” Brill said, adding that legal challenges to law enforcement requests would concern all governments, not just the United States. .

We hope these additional steps will give our customers increased confidence in their data.

The European Data Protection Board, an EU data watchdog, released guidance last week to help businesses determine whether they need to implement additional measures before transferring their data, such as exchanging credentials with pseudonyms.

Microsoft’s measures announced Thursday come on top of other commitments the company is already making in contracts it signs with its customers, including promises to encrypt data in transit and at rest, and to comply with legal demands. government data only if they have a clear obligation to do so. .