CLOUD Act

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The CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act ) is a US law that allows US authorities to access data stored on the Internet.

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The law obliges American Internet companies and IT service providers to guarantee US authorities access to stored data even if the data is not stored in the USA.

Conversely, foreign companies can also use this route to gain access to data that is stored by US corporations abroad. As a result of the law, bilateral agreements are to be drawn up which enable foreign authorities to submit their inquiries directly to the corporations. This would mean that a judicial review would be left out of a query, which has led to criticism from data protection officers.

According to the law, the company affected by the disclosure obligation has the right to object to the order to release data in individual cases if the owner of the data is not a US citizen, does not live in the USA and the company violates the law by releasing the data would be violated in other countries. This applies to countries that have concluded an agreement with the USA under the CLOUD Act. Currently only Great Britain has signed such an Executive Agreement, so that this option does not exist for all other citizens worldwide.

The law was introduced after US authorities had problems in various cases in accessing data stored abroad in the US. Up until the law was passed, companies could claim that a search warrant was only valid in the USA. Internet companies and IT service providers can be prohibited by law from informing their users about such a secret query of user data.

The law was signed on March 23, 2018.

criticism

The US data protection organization Electronic Frontier Foundation rated the CLOUD Act as a "dangerous law". The law is "nothing less than an encroachment on the private sphere and a curtailment of fundamental rights". The consolidated Microsoft is sharply critical of this law.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US Congress: HR4943 - CLOUD Act. Retrieved September 20, 2019 .
  2. ↑ CLOUD Act - US law for international data access and protection passed. In: Heise Online. Retrieved September 27, 2019 .
  3. ^ The Software Alliance: The CLOUD Act and the European Union: Myths vs. Facts. Retrieved September 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ CLOUD Act Executive Agreement Certified to Congress, After A Delay. January 10, 2020, accessed May 6, 2020 (American English).
  5. ↑ Microsoft defends data in Europe against US access. In: Heise Online. September 10, 2015, accessed March 26, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Tanja Tricarico: Microsoft against Cloud Act: Protecting data from US access. In: The daily newspaper . September 18, 2018, accessed April 19, 2020 .