Court’s order and Google’s appeal over emails stored outside U.S.

A Philadelphia judge, Thomas Rueter, ruled that Google should comply with FBI’s search warrants and hand over Gmail messages stored outside the US, as part of a domestic fraud investigation. ‘Though the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centres abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States,’ said Rueter. Privacy advocates expressed concerns that the ruling will put the privacy of non-US citizens at risk. Google said it will appeal the ruling: ‘The magistrate in this case departed from precedent in the case of Microsoft, and we plan to appeal the decision. We will continue to push back on overbroad warrants.’