Unlike Microsoft, Google Must Give FBI Access To Overseas Email Servers: US Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter

Google will have to comply with FBI search warrants seeking access to customer emails stored on servers located outside the United States, judge Thomas Rueter ruled Friday. The decision diverges from an opposite verdict given in a similar case against Microsoft Corp in July last year.

"Though the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centers abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States," Rueter wrote in his ruling.