Microsoft is suing the Department of Justice in an effort to prevent the government from forcing technology companies to hand over personal data without their customers' knowledge.

The company filed the case in federal court on Thursday in an attempt to fight a key legal mechanism used by the government, a tool that can force companies to hand over customer data while also prohibiting them from informing their customers.

These warrants, which are commonly used in national security investigations, can lead to data leaks or destruction. This is becoming a growing problem for technology companies like Microsoft, which has been forced to maintain secrecy in 2,576 cases!

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In more than two-thirds of these cases, Microsoft has been permanently silenced. The company’s chief legal officer, Brad Smith, wrote in a blog post on Thursday that it was not an easy decision for the company to go against the government, but it did so because it believes critical principles and important practical consequences are at stake.

“We believe that businesses and consumers have a right to know when the government is accessing their emails or records,” Smith said. “It has become routine for the U.S. government to issue orders requiring email providers to keep these legal requirements secret.”

Smith said these orders are unconstitutional and violate the First Amendment, which guarantees companies the right to talk to their customers about how government action affects their data.

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This is not the first time that this “gagged” order has been called unconstitutional. In 2013, a judge in California declared that imposing such orders is a violation of freedom of speech and expression.

The use of so-called national security letters has increased since they were enacted by the Patriot Act in 2001. National security letters do not require a court order and can be issued by the FBI. Last year, it was revealed that the US government can force companies to hand over complete browsing history, the IP addresses of all users a person has communicated with, online purchase information, their mobile phone location and more.

Microsoft has so far managed to withdraw only one national security letter. Twitter is also trying to obtain permission to disclose the exact number of letters it has received.

You can see the lawsuit here.

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