Microsoft has turned to other tech companies in its fight against the DOJ to protect the email privacy of its users. Apple, Cisco, Verizon, AT&T and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have taken sides with Microsoft in its appeal not to have to share user data located in Ireland with the U.S. government. Earlier today, the Redmond, WA-based tech giant broadcast a panel discussion with figures from trade and advocacy groups to discussing the importance of not sharing private user data that is located abroad with the U.S. government.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is warning media outlets not to report on details that have been exposed in a massive hack on its email network. News sites have been going crazy leaking dramatic private emails between Sony executives who have embarrassed themselves with what they have said about famous actors. Sony is now claiming that reporting on this information is a legal issue as the information was stolen.

Email is one of the most addictive digital habits and it turns out that this behavior is not good for your health. In fact, according to a new study from researchers at the University of British Columbia, you should check your email no more than three times a day. Checking it more often increases stress.

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that employees with access to an employer's email system have the right to use the platform for union organizing. This includes the ability to exchange emails about wages and working conditions. Workers can only send these kinds of emails when they ae off the clock.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has told consumers to beware a spam email in circulation that claims to be from Pizza Hut. The email promises recipients a free pizza as a part of the brand's 55th anniversary celebration. Email recipients are instructed to download a coupon in order to redeem the offer. The download is full of malware.

In the latest leaked email from the Sony data breach, a new email reveals that Google, Homeland Security and Sony Pictures had a meeting to brainstorm ideas on how to fight digital piracy. Ironically, a small secret group met to address piracy and other crimes on the web. An email sent by a Sony lawyer, revealed: "Google is apparently willing to do more than its public (and not so public) positions."

Marketing services firm Every Market Media has released a new business-to-business marketing database which contains almost 26 million individual contacts, including email addresses and websites. The International B2B Marketing Database includes information from more than 70,000 business types and 217 countries. It costs about $2500 per month to access.

Sixty-one percent of marketers plan to increase their spend on email services in 2015, according to a new report from StrongView. The company's 2015 Marketing Trends Survey revealed that 54 percent of marketers expect to see bigger budgets next year. Forty-nine percent said that they would increase their social media spend next year and 40 percent plan to up their mobile spend.

Consumers opened more marketing emails on Cyber Monday this year than any other day of the year so far, according to Return Path. The trend was not a surprise as last year, the digital shopping day was also the biggest day of the year for email opens. While last year the majority of Cyber Monday emails were opened on a desktop, mobile took the lead this year representing the majority of email opens.

Microsoft has filed an appeal against Manhattan's U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruling which requires the company to hand over emails stored in its data center in Ireland to the DOJ. The company has argued that because the emails are located outside of the U.S., they are not part of the U.S. jurisdiction. The DOJ wants access to the emails as part of a criminal investigation in the U.S.