In their IAPP article The Globalization of Criminal Evidence, Professors Christakis, Daskal, and Swire explain how the rise of cloud computing has led to “more than half of all investigation involv[ing] a cross-border request to access [electronic] evidence,” according to a 2018 report by the European Commission. The article examines how this globalization of criminal evidence is driving historic changes in the rules for law enforcement access to electronic communications and other records consistent with privacy and human rights protections. [...]

More than half of all criminal investigations today in Europe include a cross-border request for access to electronic evidence such as text messages, emails or messaging apps. Following an invitation by the Council of the European Union, and after an extensive expert process and consultations with Member States and relevant stakeholders, the EU Commission presented in April 2018 the E-Evidence legislative package which aims to streamline the cooperation with internet and cloud service providers and supply law enforcement and judicial [...]

Updated October 15, 2018 There have been some recent suggestions that the CLOUD Act will result in U.S. law enforcement authorities being able to directly monitor live conversations of Europeans in Europe. This is inaccurate. The following explains why. [...]

In their Lawfare article Recommendations for the Potential U.S.-U.K. Executive Agreement Under the Cloud Act, Peter Swire and Justin Hemmings discuss potential issues with such an agreement.  The article explains key points for the Justice Department and Congress to consider if an agreement is presented for consideration on the Hill, and seeks to provide concrete and workable measures to ensure that any U.S./U.K. conforms to both the statutory requirements of the Cloud Act and good public policy. [...]