On Eve of Supreme Court Oral Argument in 'Microsoft,' ITIF Urges Congress to Pass Cloud Act

Congress needs to reach agreement on cross-border data seizures before the Supreme Court rules in U.S. v. Microsoft, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said Monday. The high court is scheduled to hear oral argument Tuesday, to decide whether a law enforcement warrant can force a U.S. service provider to produce customer's emails stored abroad (see 1710160009). ITIF Vice President Daniel Castro said if Congress fails to act, U.S. competitiveness will feel negative impacts no matter what. If the court supports use of search warrants in obtaining data abroad, it will fuel incentives for storing data overseas with non-U.S. providers, he said. Conversely, if search warrants are ruled illegal overseas, foreign governments may force companies to store data domestically to block U.S. search warrants, he said. Castro said lawmakers should reach a legislative solution, describing the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (Cloud) Act as the “best option” (see 1802050057). The bill would establish a formal framework to resolve disputes over law enforcement access to communications and data stored on overseas servers via international bilateral agreements.