Decision in Microsoft case could set dangerous global precedent, experts say

A verdict against the company could be troubling, legal experts warn, as governments consider whether they can require tech firms to reveal private data

The US government takes on Microsoft in a Manhattan court on Wednesday morning - and if the verdict goes badly for the software giant, the decision could set a dangerous legal precedent across the world, experts warn.

The long-running case concerns a single Hotmail email account, stored on a Microsoft server in Ireland and of interest to the Department of Justice (DoJ), which tried to force Microsoft to recover the emails from its foreign facilities without working with the Irish police.