Law enforcement agencies in Australia and the United States have agreed to share information about criminal suspects more quickly with digital companies, including social media giants. Under the US Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (Cloud) Act, Australian and US law enforcement authorities will be able to use current warrants to obtain information from firms based in other countries in order to prevent, detect, investigate, and punish serious crime. Questions remain regarding the deal’s practical ramifications, given the trend toward data encryption that keeps data out of the hands of digital corporations, such as Facebook’s deployment of end-to-end encryption for its WhatsApp users. In both nations, the Cloud Act agreement will now be subjected to parliamentary and congressional assessment. Labor welcomed negotiations on the Cloud Act in 2019, but questioned if a settlement would force the Coalition to amend encryption legislation.

Source: The Guardian December 16, 2021 19:07 UTC