Congress Wants International Cops to Have Easier Access to U.S. Data

Congress stuffed the CLOUD Act into a bill of over 2,000 pages that is headed to the President's desk.

This is a picture of a guy traveling.
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This is a picture of a guy traveling.

Congress wants to make it easier for international police to access United States citizens' data. Why? Because of terrorism, apparently.

USA Today reports the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD) Act—which has been stuffed into the recent spending bill of over 2,000 pages—will allow U.S. government and international allies to obtain data related to crimes and possible terrorist threats when such information is stored on a server outside of the country. Since the act is stuffed into the bill, it's likely that it will be overlooked. The big question is if the President agrees to the bill as it is now (even though we can assume he won't read it himself).

Like similar measures, the government invokes on privacy in the name of terrorism prevention.

If signed into law by Trump, it could overhaul how technology companies interact with law enforcement for data requests across international borders. According to The New Republic, the legislation affects Microsoft's—which recently under fire for sexual harassment—Supreme Court case. The technology giant is disputing a warrant issued by federal prosecutors to raid data stored in an Ireland data center, which was made possible under the Stored Communications Act of 1986.

This news follows Facebook's recent data breach by Cambridge Analytica, which founder Mark Zuckerberg apologized for via full-page newspaper ads.

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