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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Microsoft, Homeland Security Secretary sued over summons

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SAN FRANCISCO – An unnamed plaintiff alleges a well-known software corporation and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued an unlawful summons.

The individual filed a complaint on Feb. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division against the Microsoft Corp. and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Charles Johnson, alleging they knowingly asked the plaintiff to produce personal information.

The unnamed plaintiff, who is not a U.S. citizen, believes he/she is a target of a campaign by politicians and law enforcement officials from the Republic of Korea to suppress the individual's speech on a website.

According to the complaint, an administrative summons was issued by an overseas special agent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Microsoft on Dec. 14 regarding a Microsoft account, including user profile, billing information, addresses and phone numbers, and the dates, times and Internet Protocol addresses for logins subscribed to by the plaintiff. The complaint states that Microsoft will comply with the summons unless the plaintiff obtains a court order directing it not to.

The plaintiff claims the defendant's agent allegedly was not qualified to issue a summons under Section 1509, and is therefore unenforceable.

The plaintiff seeks a declaration that the summons is invalid, injuntive relief barring Microsoft from giving any of the plaintiff's information to the Department of Homeland Security, and any other relief the court deems just and proper. The plaintiff is represented by Karl S. Kronenberger, Jeffrey M. Rosenfeld and Ansel J. Halliburton of Kronenberger Rosenfield LLP in San Francisco.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division Case number 3:16-cv-00545

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