The Supreme Court ducked having to rule in a major digital privacy case Tuesday, saying a new U.S. law enacted last month gives federal agents clear access to data stored on “the cloud,” so there’s no longer a reason to fight over the government’s efforts to get a peek at files stored overseas.
The case had been shaping up as a major test of the reach of policing powers in the data age.
The information being sought in a drug trafficking case was stored on a server in Ireland, and Microsoft, the service provider, has said it was protected by local laws and was beyond the reach of U.S. authorities.
But the new law, dubbed the CLOUD Act, specifically requires U.S. companies to disclose information to authorities “regardless of whether [the data] is located within or outside of the United States.”
Federal authorities have already gone back to the courts and obtained a new warrant under the new law, and the justices said Tuesday that obviates the old fight.
“No live dispute remains,” they said in a joint opinion.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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