Law Enforcement Could Use CLOUD Act to Skirt 4th Amendment
Mar 15, 2018, 11:32 AM by Eric M. Zeman
The CLOUD Act would give law enforcement both at home and abroad new access to Americans' personal data in violation of the Fourth Amendment, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The CLOUD Act (H.R. 4943 and S. 2383) lets U.S. law enforcement access data stored anywhere in the world regardless of the privacy laws where that data is located. Moreover, it gives the president the power to enter into agreements with any nation that would let foreign law enforcement officials take data from U.S. companies — all without showing probable cause or requiring a warrant. The Act stipulates that foreign police could only grab data from U.S. companies when the target is not a U.S. citizen, but there's a big back door. According to the EFF, data scooped up on foreign targets in the U.S. would surely include metadata generated by and pertaining to Americans. Metadata might include call times/locations, emails, messages, voicemails, and more. Further, foreign law enforcement agencies could then share any data collected about U.S. citizens with U.S. law enforcement, again, with no warrant needed. The language that covers the circumstances under which data could be shared between agencies and across boarders is vague at best. "The backdoor proposed in the CLOUD Act violates our Fourth Amendment right to privacy by granting unconstitutional access to our private lives online," claims EFF. The Cloud Act is currently working its way through the House and the Senate. It's not clear if or when there might be a vote.
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