Last Updated on 14/06/2021 by Khushi
Image courtesy: gulftimes
Microsoft is advocating for new restrictions on gag orders, which prevent companies from informing customers that the government has obtained copies of their emails or other data.
As the Trump Justice Department issued secret subpoenas while investigating former White House counsel Don McGahn, members of Congress, and the media, these types of gag orders kept many Americans in the dark.
The company’s president, Brad Smith, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Attorney General Merrick Garland should treat the issue as a “personal priority.” He urged the Justice Department to tighten the use of gag orders, as well as to outlaw indefinite gag orders and provide a mechanism for companies to challenge them.
Smith’s op-ed comes on the heels of revelations about shocking data seizures from tech companies during the Trump administration, which targeted former White House counsel Donald McGahn, Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, and journalists from multiple news outlets, including The Washington Post.
