With the July 14, 2016, decision in Microsoft v. United States (“Microsoft”) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the question arises – as it usually does in cases involving technology in general and the internet in particular: Is the decision good news for internet users? Though the outcomes of some technology and internet cases may be heralded (initially) as victories for users, closer examination can reveal otherwise. Speaking about the Microsoft decision specifically, Jennifer Granick has warned that, while the decision “may be a short-term victory for privacy advocates … its larger implications are far more complex.”

The Second Circuit’s Microsoft decision at first seems to mark a victory for internet users, particularly those who welcome any decision that denies a government access to individuals’ data (whatever the circumstances), or those who are concerned about the U.S. government’s access to data of persons outside the United States’ jurisdictional reach. In Microsoft, the government requested the data of an individual that were stored by Microsoft, and Microsoft was successful in having the Second Circuit quash a search warrant issued by the district court (the warrant having been issued under the Stored Communications Act (“the Act”)) by arguing that a U.S. court-issued search warrant could not compel Microsoft to produce data that Microsoft had stored outside the United States (in this case, in Ireland).

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