Lost in the cloud: Time to overhaul overseas data laws

How should law enforcement officials deal with digital data that happens to be stored in a different country?

If FBI agents, pursuing a subject who committed a crime in the United States, serve a valid court order on an American company, the government should not have to wait a year because the company happens to store the information overseas. Likewise, if the London police are investigating a local murder, the fact that they are seeking phone records from a communications provider located in the US should not block them from doing their job.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 07, 2018, with the headline Lost in the cloud: Time to overhaul overseas data laws. Subscribe