Congress Passes CLOUD Act Hidden in Budget Spending Bill

This  allows internal and foreign law enforcement access to user data stored online without a search warrant or probable cause.

The legislation is the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act), a bill proposed in mid-February, this year (S. 2383 and H.R. 4943).

US officials never discussed the bill, but merely appended it to the Omnibus budget spending bill (page 2201) they introduced in Congress on Wednesday night.

The budget bill was deemed a priority and officials were almost forced to approve it in its current form to avoid a complete US government shutdown starting next week.

The budget bill passed a day later, Thursday, with a 256-167 vote in the House of Representatives, and a 65-32 vote on the Senate floor, including with the embedded CLOUD Act that got zero discussion, feedback, or modifications from regulators.

The unaltered and now official CLOUD Act effectively gets rid of the need for search warrants and probable cause for grabbing a US citizen's data stored online.

US police only need to point the finger at some account, and tech companies must abide and provide all the needed details, regardless if the data is stored in the US or overseas.

Further, the bill recognizes foreign law enforcement and allows the US President to sign data-sharing agreements with other countries without congressional oversight. The CLOUD Act will then allow foreign law enforcement to require data on their own citizens stored in the US, also without obtaining a warrant or proving probable cause.

More Info:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/government/us-congress-passes-cloud-act-hidden-in-budget-spending-bill/

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/paxb5z/cloud-act-passed-in-budget-bill

This seems more ominous for the hobby than the SESTA? Fosta we have been talking about

First of all a valid search warrant in criminal matters or a subpoena in civil matter or a US court order based on a foreign governmental request is absolutely required.  CLOUD does not repeal the 5th and 14th amendments.  In issuing an order for a foreign request, the court shall apply the same legal standards as a warrant issued in the United States plus other requirements showing the foreign request isn’t to promote torture or other things that are illegal in the US.  

Congress does in fact have oversight for any foreign executive agreement submitted to the Attorney General for approval.  The AG must submit the proposed EA to congress who then has 90 days to act to reject it.

This really doesn’t change much in existing law.  The standard for discovery is an entity must produce information in its possession custody or control.  What CLOUD does is to clarify that material stored on a foreign server by a US domiciled entity ( like Microsoft) is still within its possession custody or control.

This is not a panic attack moment unless you are a drug dealer in Brooklyn that has emails stored in Ireland.  

I get the push back from privacy advocates and I don’t disagree with it.  I also get how this may affect enforcement of FOSTA/ SESTA, but that is a discussion for another day.