U.S.-based technology companies and courts across the country have disagreed over the extraterritorial application of the Stored Communications Act in allowing U.S. law enforcement to enforce warrants to reach data stored overseas. Some courts have treated the data stored overseas as a “physical” object and, therefore, refused to extend the reach of the Act abroad. Other courts have found that the Act authorized a warrant for overseas data because the technology company was subject to the court’s jurisdiction and the warrant sought information from the only place the company could access it. Companies have called on Congress to help clarify the issue, and the government has also appealed to the Supreme Court to do the same.
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