Search Warrants for Cloud Data to Apple, Google, and Microsoft
Five years ago, law enforcement was focused on seizing as many cell phones as they could and forensically analyzing those phones to find evidence of crimes. Technology has made it easier for them to do this (and to crack encryption), and we are commonly seeing this type of evidence in our cases. Now, the new trend is to obtain a search warrant for cloud data – this includes iCloud data, Google drive and Gmail data, and Microsoft Onedrive and Outlook data. Often, the suscriber will receive an email from the tech company stating that a law enforcement agency has seized his or her data pursuant to a search warrant. This also may happen with social media such as Instagram and Facebook.
In this video, Attorney Patrick Korody discusses the law enforcement practice of searching cloud data, the law that permits search warrants to be issued to the tech companies, and what you can do about it.