Microsoft’s Top Lawyer on Privacy, Technology and Edward Snowden
Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith spoke at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society Nov 4, discussing government information requests, ensuring the privacy of consumers and trust in U.S. technology companies.
When governments ask Microsoft for data on the company’s enterprise customers, the company passes the request on to their client. If that action doesn’t resolve the issue, then Microsoft will challenge the request in court. Individual customers don’t get the same treatment, he said.
As reported in BetaBoston, Smith said, “The legal right that governments have to ask for and acquire data about a consumer depends on what the person’s nationality is, and where the data is stored, and where the parent company is headquartered, among other things.”
