US/UK in negotiations to allow their agencies access to data in both countries

[Jim K Global Moderator]

US/UK are undergoing meetings which would allow each country to have access to emails and other electronic data held by companies on both sides of the pond.  Basically this would let the American intelligence access to American data held on British telecommunications and vice versa.  Previously, it would take about 10 months to formally request access and that isn't including the turnaround time for the private companies to comply.  The US/UK are now in talks on how the respective agencies can request data directly from the British or American companies.  

 

Snippet(s) from The Washington Post article.  There is a lot more:
 

Quote

 

The transatlantic allies have quietly begun negotiations this month on an agreement that would enable the British government to serve wiretap orders directly on U.S. communication firms for live intercepts in criminal and national security investigations involving its own citizens. Britain would also be able to serve orders to obtain stored data, such as emails.

 

The British government would not be able to directly obtain the records of Americans, if a U.S. citizen or resident surfaced in an investigation. And it would still have to follow the country’s legal rules to obtain warrants.

 

Last week, the White House gave the State Department the green light to begin the formal negotiations. Officials stressed that they were in the very early stages of the talks, which probably will go on for months. They said they will seek to ensure that any agreement protects civil liberties.

 

But Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a Washington-based privacy group, said allowing Britain to go to U.S. firms directly with wiretap orders “would be a sea change in current law. I don’t see Congress going down that road.”

 

Senior administration officials said that the goal is to help a close ally investigate serious crimes — something that the United States has a shared interest in.

 

One potential example: London police are investigating a murder-for-hire plot, and the suspects are using Hotmail to communicate, and there’s no connection to the United States other than the fact that the suspects’ emails are on a Microsoft server in Redmond, Wash. Today, the police would have to use the MLAT process and wait months.

 

 

[Torolol]

being possible candidate for the 51th State this move aren't any surprising.