Washington,
D.C. — TechNet, the national, bipartisan
network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, welcomed today’s introduction of the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act of 2018, a bill to modernize laws enabling
law enforcement to seek data stored in other countries while helping protect consumers’
rights.

“Innovations
in cloud computing have fueled innovation and growth in the U.S. and around the
world, but our online privacy laws were developed in 1986 and have failed to
keep up with the digital age,” said TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore. “Passing
the CLOUD Act would be a critical
step to safeguard our citizens’ privacy rights, ensure law enforcement has the
tools they need to protect us, and enhance cooperation between governments.”

TechNet is
part of a broad coalition supporting the CLOUD Act of 2018 and today joined in signing an industry letter to Congress in support of passing the
legislation. The Senate bill is sponsored
by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The House
bill is sponsored by Representatives Doug Collins (R-GA), Hakeem Jeffries
(D-NY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Suzan DelBene (D-WA).

The CLOUD
Act of 2018 seeks to accomplish the following:

  • Reduce international conflicts by
    incentivizing bilateral agreements between governments for cross-border
    criminal and terrorism investigations.

  • Balance the interests of cloud customers
    and data holders by ensuring they are protected by their home country’s privacy
    laws.
  • Eliminate impediments to
    combatting serious crimes by resolving conflicting legal obligations on
    technology companies.
  • Establish procedures for cloud
    providers to seek additional court review of any warrant that creates a legal
    conflict with a country that is covered by a bilateral agreement.