Via Bloomberg – “Microsoft Corp. persuaded a judge not to let the U.S. government out of a lawsuit alleging the company’s free-speech rights are violated by a law that blocks it from alerting users to the clandestine interception of their e-mails. The judge said Microsoft has at least made a plausible argument that federal law muzzles its right to speak about government investigations, while not ruling on the merits of the case. “The public debate has intensified as people increasingly store their information in the cloud and on devices with significant storage capacity,” U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle said in Thursday’s ruling. “Government surveillance aided by service providers creates unique considerations because of the vast amount of data service providers have about their customers.”

• Reference – ORDER granting in part and denying in part Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) by Defendants Loretta Lynch, United States Department of Justice; by Judge James L. Robart. Wednesday, February 08, 2017.