U.S. Lawmakers Say it is Time to Boost Privacy Protections Around Cloud Data
upstart writes:
U.S. lawmakers say it is time to boost privacy protections around cloud data:
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - The United States needs to accord the same legal protections to user data held on tech companies' servers as it does to physical files stored in personal file cabinets, media attorneys and lawmakers said Wednesday.
The witnesses spoke at a hearing on whether the U.S. government overuses it secret subpoena power in a way that harms American internet users. The proceeding follows revelations that former President Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Justice secretly sought the phone records of reporters and Democratic representatives to investigate the leaks of classified material. read more
Word of the DOJ's investigations outraged lawmakers and prompted renewed talk of curbing the federal government's practice of secretly subpoenaing the cloud service providers - companies like Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google - to win access to their users' emails, documents and instant messages without giving them a chance to defend their interests.
U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, said the tactic was "an end run on the protections that the Fourth Amendment is supposed to provide to every American."
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