Tech Giants support Google in the battle against FBI

After a Pennsylvania court ruled that Google has to hand over emails stored overseas in response to an FBI warrant, Apple, Amazon, Cisco, and Microsoft are supporting the Mountain View-based company.

Google, Facebook, and other Silicon Valley giants backed Apple’s decision not to create an iPhone backdoor that would compromise the security of iOS. Now Apple is returning the favor by standing alongside Google in its fight against an FBI search warrant.
Apple knows all too well what it’s like to battle with the FBI. Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple has also taken a broader pro-privacy stance, most famously refusing to code a backdoor into iOS so the FBI could access the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook and became embroiled in a legal battle with the bureau that went on for months.

“When a warrant seeks email content from a foreign data center, that invasion of privacy occurs outside the United States — in the place where the customers’ private communications are stored, and where they are accessed, and copied for the benefit of law enforcement, without the customer’s consent,” reads the brief filed by Apple, Amazon, Cisco, and Microsoft.

It’s not completely clear what data Google has been asked to hand over to the FBI, but the company first confirmed last month that it would be fighting the request. It also stated that it would “continue to push back on over-broad warrants.”

Google’s argument hinges on the U.S. Stored Communications Act, and whether it applies to data stored abroad. According to the amicus brief, it should be up to Congress, not the courts, to decide that.