The battle over privacy and security is getting bigger by the day and the latest to join the battlefront is tech giant Microsoft. The Redmond-based company entered the battle regarding digital privacy after it sued the United States Justice Department over its use of court orders that require the company to turn over sensitive customer data that are store in its data centers.

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Microsoft, based on the court documents, stated that most of the time, customers are not notified about the request of the Justice Department. According to Reuters, the lawsuit was filed on April 14 in a federal court in Seattle.

Microsoft's lawsuit is the latest in the series of legal challenges brought by several tech companies over the supposed coercion of the government in their efforts to suppress acts of crime and terrorism. Earlier this year, Apple fought a high-profile legal battle against the Federal Bureau of Investigations after the latter demanded the tech company to create a backdoor software in order to penetrate the encrypted iPhone of the perpetrator of the San Bernardo shooting.

Due to the proliferation of online identity theft and hacking, tech giants like Facebook, Google and Yahoo, have all increased their use of encryption in order to safeguard their customers' data. Online privacy advocates have applauded the initiatives done by these tech companies.

On the other hand, authorities have been constantly demanding exclusive access to user data that are store in these companies' data centers. Authorities claim that encryption makes it hard for them to track criminals and may create serious hurdles that may impede ongoing investigations.

In a statement, former Justice Department attorney Jennifer Daskal said, "Privacy is an economic good at this point. It's good for business because consumers care about it. So the companies are competing over being privacy protective."

Some legal experts claim that tech companies have a practice of selling user information to advertisers, a practice criticized by consumer groups as well as privacy and security experts. On the other hand, tech companies argue that this practice is different from handing over information to the government authorities who have the power to jail people.

TagsMicrosoft, Microsoft lawsuit, Department of Justice, us justice, US Department of Justice, Microsoft data request