Canada, U.S. unveil plans to access, share data in criminal investigations
Global News
Amid rapidly shifting geopolitical sands, Canada and the United States unveiled plans Wednesday to work more closely in the nebulous world of cybersecurity.
Amid rapidly shifting geopolitical sands, Canada and the United States unveiled plans Wednesday to work more closely in the nebulous world of cybersecurity, including on a long-awaited deal to make it easier to navigate each other’s data privacy laws in criminal investigations.
A detailed suite of common cross-border common interests, including cybercrime, human smuggling and the trafficking of illegal guns, emerged overnight from the newly resurrected Cross-Border Crime Forum, a bilateral gathering inaugurated in 1997 but dormant since 2012.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Justice Minister David Lametti were in the U.S. capital for the meetings, the centrepiece of which was the start of formal talks to bring Canada under the umbrella of the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, or CLOUD.
Reaching a deal “would pave the way for more efficient cross-border disclosures of data between the United States and Canada so that our governments can more effectively fight serious crime, including terrorism,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The overriding objective, Garland said, would be to enhance public safety and security in both countries while protecting the privacy and civil liberties of both Americans and Canadians.
“By increasing the effectiveness of investigations and prosecutions of serious crime … we seek to enhance the safety and security of citizens on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.”
The CLOUD Act, passed in 2018, created a “new paradigm,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice: “an efficient, privacy and civil liberties-protective approach to ensure effective access to electronic information through executive agreements between the United States and trusted foreign partners.”
Such agreements are designed to eliminate legal “barriers” that prevent internet service providers subject to U.S. laws from releasing electronic evidence under court order. The U.S. has already reached CLOUD agreements with Australia and the U.K. Other jurisdictions with stringent privacy rules, such as the European Union, are at odds with the DOJ approach.
