MLAT

“Bad for public safety, bad for companies, and bad for privacy,” declared Paddy McGuinness, the United Kingdom’s deputy national security advisor about the current U.S.-U.K. cross-border data access system at a recent congressional hearing. Joining in his view, in June, Google called for major changes to U.S.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on conflicts of law and mutual legal assistance (MLA)—how to fulfill law enforcement requests for stored data in an era when transnational Internet companies often hold data relevant to citizens of numerous countries.

The on-going debate on encryption and exceptional access for law enforcement agencies to encrypted communication—which recent attacks in Paris and California have only intensified—is also being closely studied in India. How India regulates encryption will be crucial for two reasons. First, India is among the fastest growing digital economies in the world, and its encryption policy could offer a template for other developing countries. What’s more, technology continues to flow from the West to the East but information is now firmly moving in the other direction.

Reading through the news coverage of the Microsoft Ireland warrant case, one thing stands out: nearly everyone agrees that the existing system for managing cross-border law enforcement requests for data is deeply flawed.