U.S. Will Curb ‘Sneak-and-Peek’ Searches Microsoft Sued Over
- Microsoft to drop lawsuit but wants changes in federal law
- New federal guidelines call for more selective use of practice
This article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. Justice Department is moving to scale back the use of orders forcing technology companies to turn over customer data without alerting users to the clandestine interception of their information.
Microsoft Corp., which sued the government over the practice last year, and other internet giants have argued that the future of cloud computing is in jeopardy if customers can’t trust that their data will remain private. In response to new guidelines quietly issued last week by the Justice Department aimed at making “sneak-and-peek” searches more selective, Microsoft said Monday it plans to drop its lawsuit, which was backed by rivals including Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.