J.A. 46–47. 8
After being served with the Warrant, Microsoft determined that the e‐mail
contents stored in the account were located in its Dublin datacenter. Microsoft
disclosed all other responsive information, which was kept within the United States,
and moved the magistrate judge to quash the Warrant with respect to the user content
stored in Dublin.
As we have recounted, the magistrate judge denied Microsoft’s motion to quash.
In a Memorandum and Order, he concluded that the SCA authorized the District Court
to issue a warrant for “information that is stored on servers abroad.” In re Warrant to
Search a Certain E‐Mail Account Controlled and Maintained by Microsoft Corporation, 15 F.
Supp. 3d 466, 477 (S.D.N.Y. 2014) (“In re Warrant”). He observed that he had found
probable cause for the requested search, and that the Warrant was properly served on
Microsoft in the United States. He noted that, inasmuch as an SCA warrant is served on
a service provider rather than on a law enforcement officer, it “is executed like a
subpoena in that it . . . does not involve government agents entering the premises of the
ISP [Internet service provider] to search its servers and seize the e‐mail account in
question.” Id. at 471. Accordingly, he determined that Congress intended in the Act’s
warrant provisions to import obligations similar to those associated with a subpoena to
“produce information in its possession, custody, or control regardless of the location of
that information.” Id. at 472 (citing Marc Rich, 707 F.2d at 667). While acknowledging
that Microsoft’s analysis in favor of quashing the Warrant with respect to foreign‐stored
customer content was “not inconsistent with the statutory language,” he saw
Microsoft’s position as “undermined by the structure of the SCA, its legislative history,”
The Warrant also describes in Attachment C techniques that would be used (presumably by
the government, not Microsoft) “to search the seized e‐mails for evidence of the specified
crime.” J.A. at 47.
8
11
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