The federal spending bill includes provisions that lower barriers to law enforcement requests for your emails, documents and other internet communications.
The CLOUD Act makes it easier for law enforcement to access data stored on servers overseas. Pictured is a server rack in Hong Kong.
The federal spending bill signed by US President Donald Trump on Friday does more than fund the budget. It also makes it easier for law enforcement agencies to demand access to online information no matter what country the data is stored in.
Lawmakers added the CLOUD Act (PDF), which stands for Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, to the spending bill before the final House and Senate votes Thursday. It updates the rules for criminal investigators who want to see emails, documents and other communications stored on the internet. Now law enforcement won’t be blocked from accessing someone’s Outlook account, for example, just because Microsoft happens to store the user’s email on servers in Ireland.
Read full story here: CLOUD Act Becomes Law, Increases Government Access To Online Info – c|net
