Microsoft in an imossible position
The MS Dblin case seems simple to me.
A US court has decided that Microsoft must provide information that it holds about a US citizen. The court doesn't care where that data is held. This is, in fact, right and proper.
However, Microsoft has the relevant data held in Dublin, and under Irish law Microsoft can't release data about an individual (whatever their nationality) without the data owner's permission or an Irish court order. This is also right and proper.
So, this is courts and jurisdictions working quite correctly. The underlying problem is that there is no international agreement about what should happen in this situation. Microsoft either breaks Irish law, or it commits contempt of court in the US for not providing the data.
If you think of an analogy, say Microsoft had printouts of the data but no electronic copy, the situation would actually be exactly the same, so this is not just a technology problem. This is a very similar issue (but not exactly the same) to the Swiss banks providing lists of offshore account holders who may be avoiding tax.
Just to be clear, if this was an Irish company, and Irish citizen with the data held in Ireland, and the original court action was happening in an Irish court, then the data would already have been handed over to the court through an Irish court order.
So at the core, this isn't about an individuals protection per se, it's about what should happen when the jurisdiction of a national court has an international impact and where there is no clear legal framework to decide what decision should be taken.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
