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.
Rover, a Seattle-based pet-sitting and walking platform, raised $155 million in new funding led by T. Rowe Price at a post-money valuation just south of $1 billion.
Why it's a big deal: Because this reflects how some deep-pocketed investors aren't succumbing to the shock-and-awe investment strategy of SoftBank, which recently plugged $300 million into Rover rival Wag.
Other investors included Winslow Capital, Cross Creek Capital and return backers like TCV, Greenspring Associates and Spark Capital. Rover also secured a $30 million credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank.
Bottom line from Rover investor Greg Gottesman, via GeekWire:
“I think what [skeptics] missed is that the market was always far bigger than kennels or other professional service providers. Rover is an easy substitute for your in-laws or a neighbor watching your beloved companion.”
Europe's GDPR data regulations prompt blackout of Tronc websites
The Los Angeles Times is one of Tronc's papers. Photo: Frederick Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Websites owned by the media company Tronc are blacked out in Europe because of the newly-enacted General Data Protection Regulations, reports the New York Times.
The bottom line: The GDPR is a set of new data regulations that set a framework for data collection and privacy for internet users in the European Union.Though companies had two years to prepare for the new rules, Tronc was willing to black out their sites in Europe to avoid facing stiff penalties — which can go as high as 4% of a company's global revenue.
