  Access to online data has long been important for law enforcement agencies in
their collection of electronic evidence and investigation of crimes. These
activities have also long involved cross-border investigations and
international cooperation between agencies and jurisdictions. However,
technological advances such as cloud computing have complicated the
investigations and cooperation arrangements. Therefore, several new laws have
been passed and proposed both in the United States and the European Union for
facilitating cross-border crime investigations in the context of cloud
computing. These new laws and proposals have also brought many new legal
challenges and controversies regarding extraterritoriality, data protection,
privacy, and surveillance. With these challenges in mind and with a focus on
Europe, this paper reviews the recent trends and policy initiatives for
cross-border data access by law enforcement agencies.
