Cybersecurity

Huawei Frightens Europe's Data Protectors. America Does, Too

  • U.S. Cloud Act is raising concern about extraterritoriality
  • Act allows authorities to get data overseas, EU to negotiate
There’s "no proof of any wrongdoing" by Huawei, says Telefonica CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete.Source: Bloomberg
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A foreign power with possible unbridled access to Europe’s data is causing alarm in the region. No, it’s not China. It’s the U.S.

As the U.S. pushes ahead with the “Cloud Act” it enacted about a year ago, Europe is scrambling to curb its reach. Under the act, all U.S. cloud service providers from Microsoft and IBM to Amazon -- when ordered -- have to provide American authorities data stored on their servers regardless of where it’s housed. With those providers controlling much of the cloud market in Europe, the act could potentially give the U.S. the right to access information on large swaths of the region’s people and companies.