Cloud Computing: Google Demands Warrants Before Releasing User Data
January 25, 2013
Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Chris Talbot.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is thumbing its nose at law enforcement in the hopes of better protecting its users’ data stored on Gmail and Google Drive. Although the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) gives U.S. law enforcement agencies the right to obtain data that’s more than 180 days old with nothing more than a subpoena, Google is ready to take on those agencies.
Google is demanding that law enforcement agencies obtain probable cause search warrants before it will hand over user data. Google released its biannual Transparency Report, which included for the first time information on how U.S. law enforcement agencies push service providers including Google into handing over customer data. At the same time, Google called "shenanigans" on the entire process. Even though law enforcement agencies have the right to obtain data under the ECPA, there frequently have been discussions about the fairness of the law, as well as concerns over privacy (many foreign businesses refuse to store data in U.S.-based data centers for just this reason)…
If Google is successful in pushing law enforcement agencies to get search warrants before it will give up user data, this could have significant implications on the future of data privacy in the public cloud. Other vendors are suggesting companies take some precautions on their own, which isn’t a bad idea…
Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing-security/google-demands-warrants-releasing-user-data