A New Backdoor Around the Fourth Amendment: The CLOUD Act | Hacker News Reader

A New Backdoor Around the Fourth Amendment: The CLOUD Act

eff.org

55 pointsdpflan14 comments

Under the proposed-to-be-amended S.2383[0] "§ 2523 Executive agreements on access to data by foreign governments (b)(1)(B)": [...]

>(B)the factors to be considered in making such a determination include whether the foreign government—

>“(iii) adheres to applicable international human rights obligations and commitments or demonstrates respect for international universal human rights, including—

>“(I) protection from arbitrary and unlawful interference with privacy;

>“(II) fair trial rights;

>“(III) freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly;

>“(IV) prohibitions on arbitrary arrest and detention; and

>“(V) prohibitions against torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;

Can anyone comment on the strength of these types of clauses in the proposed legislation?

[0]https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/238...

IANAL, but is there an enforcement or oversight mechanism?

I couldn't find one, and the bill even tries to prohibit Judicial review...

Every few weeks there's a new item related to governments and technology. The days of leaving the internet alone are long, long gone.

Aside from the negativity of it all, I really wish we didn't have these things coming up. It's not about hacking, it's not about technology. It's not about making things people want.

But when tech companies build out surveillance systems as part of their products that would tax the imagination of the most dystopic writers in history, and the governments roll in and sweep all that data up?

As hackers we're stuck in the story, we are key players, we created this monstrosity, and we're probably the only hope there is for fixing it.

> First, it empowers U.S. law enforcement to grab data stored anywhere in the world, without following foreign data privacy rules.

How does this play into a global scope? I assume the US can tell it's own people "You can do this", but I assume the Europen Union or other countries might not allow it, regardless of how Americans feel about it. Is the idea that IF a US agency can get a hold of the data, then it is not subject to whatever rules the country dictates for data privacy?

That's what the second part is meant to address. The idea is that the US will enter into agreements saying "fair's fair, both your and our police can demand data regarding our respective citizens when our respective privacy laws allow for it".

Discussed yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16585430

Is this EFF article not a different discussion from yesterday where the actionnetworks article was changed to simply link to the Senate text? I don't see this particular EFF article

A less sensationalistic look at this: https://lawfareblog.com/cloud-act-welcome-legislative-fix-cr...

please don't flag or 'dupe' this article: is it's too important

Is this inevitable? In the age of Big Data, can we realistically do anything to stop the progressive intrusion of surveillance onto our privacy?

Particularly when a single secret datacenter is enough to circumvent any law or amendment, what can we realistically do, short of going off the grid? Can we make our own?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com