Servers at a Facebook data center in Sweden. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty Images
There's a solution in Congress that will help law enforcement gather electronic evidence, often stored on servers abroad, while reducing conflicts of law facing cloud storage providers: the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act.
Why it matters: Data — meaning evidence — is now global. The CLOUD Act makes clear when U.S. warrants apply, considers the applicable laws of other countries, and creates a framework for bilateral cooperative agreements that allow for cross-border data requests to be handled through domestic legal processes. The proposed U.S.-UK agreement is a good model.
Current law enforcement challenges:
Fundamental changes in how evidence is created, stored and collected make it more difficult to access.
The lack of a modernized system to process requests for access to foreign data delays investigations.
Disparate legal systems and opposing views among foreign countries on how the U.S. government seeks to obtain evidence make it both it difficult to access such data and legally risky for all global companies, not just technology firms.
These issues lie at the core of ongoing litigation between technology companies and the government over the applicability of U.S. warrants. The most prominent case, Microsoft Corporation vs. United States, is set to be argued before the Supreme Court on February 27.
What's next: Congress should notice support from both the law enforcement and technology communities on this issue and seize the opportunity to modernize these important laws.
Michael Chertoff is co-founder and executive chairman of the Chertoff Group and a former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
Flickr, the online photo-hosting service Yahoo acquired in 2005, has a new owner: photo-sharing site SmugMug, the company announced on Friday.
Why it matters: Flickr is one of Yahoo's most recognizable assets, but its fate has been uncertain for months since Verizon bought its parent company and then merged with AOL last year. SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill says that his company will give Flickr the resources and attention it lacked under Yahoo's stewardship, he told USA Today.
AT&T, Verizon reportedly subject of collusion probe
AT&T is fighting with the Justice Department over its Time Warner merger. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
The Department of Justice has been probing for months whether AT&T and Verizon colluded with a major industry group to make it harder for customers to switch providers by setting restrictive standards for a key new technology, the New York Times’ Cecilia Kang reports.
Why it matters: The revelation of the concerns come as the Justice Department is also arguing that AT&T could collude with a competitor, Comcast, in the case to block its $85 billion purchase with Time Warner. AT&T says that won’t happen.
The details: The investigation reportedly concerns tech that lets customers switch wireless providers without switching SIM cards. The carriers, the Times story says, are accused of influencing the standard-setting process for that technology in order to give them a way to keep a phone from leaving their networks.
"The accusations regarding this issue are much ado about nothing," said Rich Young, a Verizon spokesman. "We've been proactively and constructively working with the Department of Justice for several months regarding this inquiry and we continue to do so."
"Along with other GSMA members, we have provided information to the government in response to their requests and will continue to work proactively within GSMA, including with those who might disagree with the proposed standards, to move this issue forward," said an AT&T spokesman.
The industry group in question, GSMA, declined to comment. The Justice Department said it "does not confirm, deny, or otherwise comment, on the existence or nonexistence of investigations."
