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Original URL: US state legal supremos show lots of love for proposed CLOUD Act (a law to snoop on citizens' info stored abroad)
The attorneys general of 35 US states on Wednesday signed an open letter calling for the quick passage of the Clarify Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act – with some qualifications.
[...] In effect, it means the FBI can ask, say, a California court for a subpoena to obtain files from a San Francisco upstart's servers hosted in France, sidestepping French privacy laws and legal system. The act's wording also does not limit the Feds to serving orders for communications on US companies and entities – agents would be able to demand information from whomever they wished, if a US judge approved.
The draft law also allows foreign governments to ask for non-US-citizens' personal data stored in America, under new sharing agreements that would be worked out by the White House.
The CLOUD Act was drawn up in part as a result of the ongoing court battle between Microsoft and US law enforcement: Uncle Sam wants a Microsoft customer's email messages stored on a Microsoft-run server in Ireland. The Feds went to a judge in New York for the information, but Redmond wants prosecutors to go to Ireland and ask an Irish judge for permission.
Microsoft, essentially, is arguing that, because the data in question is stored on servers in Ireland, the g-men's request – made under the 1986 US Stored Communications Act – is invalid. The US Supreme Court will consider the case this year.
[...] "The Act also creates incentives for our foreign partners to enter into bilateral agreements that will facilitate cross-border criminal investigations, while ensuring that privacy and civil liberties are respected."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday February 26 2018, @05:22PM
If Tin Star Sheriff gets a subpoena against a European, they can argue that their data is stored in Europe (per the app's legalese to avoid trouble with the personal data export directive).
If the data is released, it would be easy to attack it in court (though US courts tend to be sympathetic to US requests), and the hosting company would get kicked in the nuts.
"How did you get that incriminating data?" is a pretty basic question to ask.
Obviously, the protection of US citizens' data stored in Europe is a bigger can of worms (see MS case)