Microsoft tells judge: Hold us in contempt of court, we're NOT giving user emails to US govt
At Microsoft's own request, a judge has held the software giant in contempt of court for failing to comply with an order to give US authorities access to customer emails housed in a data center in Dublin, Ireland.
Redmond's request was made jointly with government prosecutors, with the aim of expediting its appeal of the July 31 ruling that it must disclose its customer's data, Bloomberg reports.
US District Judge Loretta Preska, who has been presiding over the case in Manhattan, did not impose any other sanctions on Microsoft beyond the contempt finding. Microsoft had earlier said that it plans to "promptly" appeal the ruling against it, and throughout the case it has maintained that it has no intention of handing over the emails in question until its legal options are exhausted.
