Microsoft joins Google in US surveillance suit

Google and Microsoft have teamed up for a legal battle seeking clarity on secret US government requests for internet user data after failed negotiations with the Obama administration.

The two companies filed suits in a federal court in June, arguing a right to disclose more information about user data requests made by the government under the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Their representatives met six times with US officials and agreed to extend the deadlines for the government to reply to the lawsuits, allowing time for negotiations that ended in failure, Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, said.