Yes you can. If Microsoft stole an antique and shipped it to China, and then was ordered to produce it they couldn't say "well its in China so we don't have produce it".

If, however, they sold it to someone in China, that Chinese person has zero obligation to give a fuck about what the US courts want.

/ Just don't ever visit the US
// Including simply flying through
/// Including flying through one of our "lapdog" partner-states.

You are legally obligated to take positive action to comply with a subpoena. So setting up that kind of system is still obstruction of justice.

You miss the point - Let's say I work for WidgetCoUSA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WidgetCoUK. Normally, I would have access to WidgetCo's global Exchange servers.

Warrant comes in. WidgetCoUK revokes every shred of my access to their servers.

WidgetCoUK has zero obligation to comply with US law. Their IT people who (rightly) removed my access acted legally and in the company's best interests. That unfortunately leaves me holding the pig in a poke, which a US court may or may not respect. But I have zero control of the outcome no matter my level of motivation.

That describes the real scenario we have here. Does Microsoft-USA have to comply with a US warrant? Absolutely. Does Microsoft-Ireland have the same requirement? Absolutely not. And unless MS.us can physically force MS.ie to play ball, it really doesn't matter what Judge Joe "Contempt" Sixpack has to say about the situation. Because name aside, these do not count as the same company, or the same people in charge. They may normally play well together, but don't need to when it doesn't suit their interests.

You are the idiot. Again, for the idiot that you are: USA went on a fishing expedition, issuing blanket demands to banks that operate to give up customer information (customers, that are not even account holders in USA branches of the targeted banks), trying to force foreign banks on foreign soil to give up account information on all USA citizens that have accounts in those banks. No court order for any specific crime, nothing, simply a demand to give up all data. Similar to NSA recording all phone calls (including that of all USA citizens) without any court order whatsoever. The difference is of-course that companies based in other countries with accounts opened in other countries are not subject to any USA demands and if companies complied with anything, they are suffering for it now domestically (loss of trust among the account holders and public in general), which is why foreign banks don't even want to accept new Americans as customers.

Wrong, in a global Internet age it shouldn't be that individuals all of a sudden lose more of the individual freedoms, it is governments that should lose their authority. In a global economy and society there is no place for government meddling, intrusion into our lives. The less intrusion that we suffer from governments of any place in the world the better.

WARS ARE STARTED BY GOVERNMENTS. People are mass murdered by governments. Governments are the enemy of the People, not voluntary cooperatives or businesses. It's governments that murder and torture people and do it 'legally' (since they are the ones defining what 'legally' means.) Governments are the enemy of the free thinking individuals.

- that's because you have no idea what you are actually defending OR talking about. In case I am pointing out USA DOJ was on a FISHING EXPEDITION, there weren't even court orders against any specific people, there was a BLANKET DEMAND FOR ALL INFORMATION ON ALL ACCOUNTS HELD BY ANY AMERICANS IN A SWISS BANK.

- proves one thing, you have 0 idea of what you are talking about. 0 (*zero*, nada, zilch, zip, empty space, empty head).

Tax evasion is not a crime in Switzerland and shouldn't be anywhere else either, by the way. Defining tax evasion as a crime is an act of aggression against individual rights of people on this planet by the cooperating collective mob and the mafia known as 'government'.

Again, the foreign companies are not USA citizens and foreign companies are not subject to USA law on their own land. However if you are an American then you are a SECOND CLASS CITIZEN today (or lower) because foreign banks that have any presence in the USA whatsoever DENY your request to open a bank account :)

If you think this is normal and that is how all countries operate, think again. When you are in Switzerland if you are from India or from China or from Russia or from Germany or from UK or from Brazil or from Uganda you are not going to be prevented from opening a bank account. However if you are from good old US of A you will not be able to open a bank account if you do not have another passport, that's what it is like today to be an American. USA government turned USA citizens into persona non grata for foreign businesses.

By the way, USA is the only of 2 or 3 countries in the world that tax 'world income', as in even if you are not a resident in the country, you are forced to file income taxes every year and above certain income you are forced to pay USA related income taxes :) Great success building that 'independence' and 'freedom'. USA was created to escape this type of persecution, now it is one of the worst offenders against human rights in the world and when I say human rights I am talking about the right to be an individual, the right to self determination, the right not to be a slave to a collective.

By the way, there is 0% wrong with having foreign bank accounts all over the world. AFAIC in today's society everybody needs to have more than one passport and many many many bank accounts and business investments around the world not tied to their country of residence. Of-course you don't have to do it, but then you are owned, aren't you?

This has nothing to do with USA citizens, this is about sovereignty of people and countries that are not USA in the first place. Swiss bank doesn't have to disclose ANYTHING to the USA regime about its account holders in Switzerland. Of-course current oppressive USA regime disagrees, apparently you are on the wrong side of the individual rights on this one as well.

By the way, any sufficiently truthful statement is indistinguishable from 'flamebait'. In other words, TRUTH HURTS, doesn't it?

Oh, and by the way it is not only just foreign businesses that operate on USA soil that are forced to comply with nonsensical USA demands, the foreign governments are giving in whenever presented with any demand really. USA is way out of line on all of its oppressive tactics, it will not end well.

- what do you mean it is a 'question'? We already know the answer to this. If a business has any presence on USA soil, the oppressive dictatorial USA government feels that it has full authority to demand all information from that business about its customers and their transactions.

Can only help create more interest in seeing the movie in the theater on the 'big screen'. Unless the movie is total crap, as then people will know upfront not to waste their money on a defective product, that they cant get a refund on.

You bet! Buy a 'bot, find the parts that are missing, print new ones, and...

Oh wait...

True - I honestly don't have the background to evaluate whether or not TFA has that part correct, but have to give him the benefit of the doubt. :)

What about that AR-15 bought from a friend? Or what about those electrical/electronic parts you ordered that could either become the heart of an IED timer/detonator device or fix the controls on grandma's hobby-ceramics firing-kiln in her garage that she's been after you to fix, after some nutcase phones in a bomb threat?

Or what about bus/train/plane tickets to a city where an anti-government protest is scheduled, coupled with your purchase of spray paint and other sign-making supplies?

If all such data is so uninteresting and worthless, why is it authoritarian governments historically make such a priority out of obtaining as much as possible from everyone they can force to comply?

Strat

In $GOD we trust. All others must pay cash.

(your choice as to how to define $GOD)

Cheers,
Dave

I went for the Spinal Tap album cover and general heavy metal first, but HHGTTG was the obvious next place to go.