http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27191500

Request it through the proper channels or piss off.

Under current data protection law, any personally identifiable information held in the EU cannot be handed to parties outside the EU without the written permission of the person affected. If Microsoft hand over the data, they will be liable to prosecution in the EU for breach of the Data Protection rules.

I have nothing against the court getting the relevant information, if it is pertinent to the case, but they are not Judge Dread, so they should follow the laws where the data is held, and that means getting a warrant from the Irish or EU court.

I'm sure the judge would change his tune if it was Putin's court saying the same thing and insisting that MS hand over information about American citizens to Russian courts.

Americans like to think that they can control everything. Unfortunately, Microsoft is a US company, and so is also bound by other laws - such as the Patriot Act which, if invoked, could require them to hand the data over anyway. It will be interesting to see how the EU Law aims to deal with laws like the PA - complying with one could clearly cause problems with the other.