美国国家公共电台 NPR Court Seems Unconvinced Of Microsoft's Argument To Shield Email Data Stored Overseas

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Every day, Americans send information to the cloud. That smartphone in your hand, or in the hand of the person next to you, is uploading photos and messages and all sorts of information. It's not literally¹ in a cloud, but in a data center somewhere in the world so that you have a backup and some extra memory in your device. A case before the Supreme² Court today asks if the U.S. government can use search warrants to get at that data even when it's stored outside the country. Here's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE³: The case involves a federal drug trafficking investigation⁴ in which U.S. law enforcement authorities obtained a search warrant for all data associated with the suspect's Microsoft account. Microsoft refused to give the feds the email content, which was stored in a data center in Ireland. If the company is forced to turn over the material, it could be fined three point six billion dollars for violating the European Union's new privacy protection rules. The company argues there's no legal authority for the U.S. warrant because it was issued under a law enacted⁵ by Congress in 1986, a full five years before the World Wide Web was even created.

The only legal way to obtain this information, the company says, is through an international treaty between the U.S. and Ireland. But the U.S. government argues that process is extremely slow, cumbersome⁶ and would prove highly impractical⁷, given that some providers break up data and move it around the world in pieces. Microsoft replies that it would set a dangerous precedent⁸ for other countries to follow if the U.S. government can reach into foreign territory to retrieve⁹ a user's private emails, even with a warrant. After all, the company asks, if the U.S. government can reach into data stored in foreign countries, why couldn't Russia or Iran reach into emails stored in the U.S.?

The U.S. government replies that any Microsoft email content stored in other countries can easily be transferred back to the U.S. by the click of a computer located at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., thus making the focus of such warrants domestic, not international. The case has huge potential ramifications¹⁰ for international law relations between countries and for the global economy. A decision is expected by summer. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。

7 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。

8 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

9 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

10 ramifications   

n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These changes are bound to have widespread social ramifications. 这些变化注定会造成许多难以预料的社会后果。
• What are the ramifications of our decision to join the union? 我们决定加入工会会引起哪些后果呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》