A digital dark cloud is looming over Poland and the United States as Poland seeks to protect its citizens from US spying.
The Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs is initiating negotiations with the United States concerning America’s unlimited access to Polish citizens’ data on the servers of American companies.
The ministry wants to negotiate a bilateral agreement similar to the one recently signed between the U.S. and the UK. The proposed agreement would make it impossible for American intelligence services to have unrestricted access to data stored in the cloud by companies such as Google, Microsoft or IBM. The first talks are to be held in Katowice, Poland, later this week between deputy ministers of both the U.S. and Poland.
According to the current Cloud Act – also known as the Clarifying the Lawful Use of Overseas Data Act or CLOUD – Washington is able to reach into data archives located on the servers of American companies even if they are located outside of U.S. jurisdiction. All intelligence services need to do is claim that they are accessing the data for security purposes.
“For now, the Cloud Act is unilateral. It only gives authorization to American investigative bodies. Examples in which American subjects provide cloud services are not a part of this regulation,” Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Karol Okoński explained.
