News

| Brad SmithReforming Laws |

Don’t Let Criminals Hide Their Data Overseas

Congress is now considering long-overdue legislation that authorizes faster access to internationally stored electronic data needed to prosecute serious crime and disrupt terrorist plots in the United States, Britain and elsewhere. The legislation, the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, or Cloud Act, would preserve law and order, advance the United States’ leadership in cybersecurity, ease restrictions on American businesses and enhance privacy standards globally. This is a priority for both of our governments

| Reforming Laws | Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act|

A ‘global game of whack-a-mole’: Overseas data rules are stuck in the 19th century

How should law enforcement officials deal with digital data that happens to be stored in a different country? If FBI agents, pursuing a subject who committed a crime in the United States, serve a valid court order on an American company, the government shouldn’t have to wait a year because the company happens to store the information overseas. Likewise, if the London police are investigating a local murder, the fact that they are seeking phone records from a communications provider located in the United States should not block them from doing their job.

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| Brad SmithReforming Laws | Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act|

Don’t Let Criminals Hide Their Data Overseas

Congress is now considering long-overdue legislation that authorizes faster access to internationally stored electronic data needed to prosecute serious crime and disrupt terrorist plots in the United States, Britain and elsewhere. The legislation, the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, or Cloud Act, would preserve law and order, advance the United States’ leadership in cybersecurity, ease restrictions on American businesses and enhance privacy standards globally. This is a priority for both of our governments.

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| Government Access to DataReforming Laws | Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act|

It’s Too Hard to Search the Cloud

Conflicts of law in cyberspace have grown worse in recent years. Multinational technology companies now regularly fight costly legal battles with the U.S. government. Both sides want to know: Can a U.S. warrant compel the disclosure of data stored abroad and subject to foreign law? Whose law takes precedence? What can be done to prevent such conflicts?

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| Brad Smith | Microsoft’s Search Warrant Case

Something extraordinary happened in Washington, D.C., yesterday

Something extraordinary happened in Washington, D.C., yesterday. Members of Congress took the same position as members of the European Parliament. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce approvingly quoted a statement by the European Commission. Business groups and big companies agreed with consumer and privacy advocates. Faculty from Harvard joined with professors from Princeton. Professors from Duke...

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