Monday, October 1, 2018

CLOUD Act

The CLOUD Act (H.R. 4943) was passed into law on March 23, 2018 as section 105 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (H.R. 1625, passed as PL 115-141), an omnibus spending bill. The CLOUD Act is an acronym for Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act.

The CLOUD Act amends the Stored Communications Act (SCA) of 1986 and allows federal law enforcement to compel US companies to provide data requested by a warrant or subpoena whether the data is stored in the US or on foreign soil.

The law was introduced after Microsoft refused to comply with a FBI SCA warrant for email data stored on one of its servers in Ireland for a drug trafficking investigation. The refusal led to the Supreme Court case Microsoft Corp. v. United States. The challenge identified that if a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) is not in place, cross-border data discovery can be slowed and impede law enforcement efforts. The Supreme Court case was vacated when the DoJ was able to secure a new warrant under the CLOUD Act, rendering the original case moot.

The CLOUD Act asserts that U.S. companies must provide data on U.S. citizens on any of their servers when requested by a warrant. It also provides an expedited route to MLATs through "executive agreements."





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