The United States and the United Kingdom entered into a recent agreement that will allow law enforcement agencies to demand electronic data from tech companies in either country for serious crimes.
The US-UK Bilateral Data Access Agreement would apply to serious crimes, including terrorism, child sexual abuse, and cybercrime. This agreement will speed up the process by removing legal barriers to facilitate the collection of electronic evidence for investigations. The agreement was signed by U.S. Attorney General William Barr and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.
“This agreement will enhance the ability of the United States and the United Kingdom to fight serious crime — including terrorism, transnational organized crime, and child exploitation — by allowing more efficient and effective access to data needed for quick-moving investigations. Only by addressing the problem of timely access to electronic evidence of crime committed in one country that is stored in another, can we hope to keep pace with 21st-century threats. This agreement will make the citizens of both countries safer, while at the same time assuring robust protections for privacy and civil liberties,” Barr said.
Both governments committed to receiving permission from the other before using data gained through the agreement in prosecutions.
“Terrorists and pedophiles continue to exploit the internet to spread their messages of hate, plan attacks on our citizens, and target the most vulnerable. As Home Secretary, I am determined to do everything in my power to stop them. This historic agreement will dramatically speed up investigations, allowing our law enforcement agencies to protect the public. This is just one example of the enduring security partnership we have with the United States, and I look forward to continuing to work with them and global partners to tackle these heinous crimes,” Patel said.
With this agreement, law enforcement, with appropriate court authorization, may go directly to tech companies based in the other country to access electronic data, rather than going through governments.
The agreement was made possible after Congress passed the CLOUD Act, which authorizes the United States to enter into bilateral executive agreements with partners that lift each party’s legal barriers to the other party’s access to electronic data for certain criminal investigations.