Even when stored in data centers in Europe, our information remains accessible to US authorities
Storing data in Europe is no longer enough to protect it from the US. A report by the University of Cologne confirms what many institutions fear: sovereignty is no longer determined by geography, but by legal control.
A legal report, kept under wraps for some time, commissioned by the German Ministry of the Interior, reveals how US laws allow intelligence agencies to access data hosted on the Old Continent. A bombshell for the sovereign cloud!
In fact, the Stored Communications Act, reinforced by the Cloud Act, and the famous Section 702 of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), extended by the US Congress until at least April 2026, give US agencies carte blanche.
This means that geography no longer matters. It doesn’t matter where the data is located. If a parent company based across the Atlantic retains ultimate control over the infrastructure, it will have to comply with US injunctions, whether its subsidiaries are European or not!
Gray area
German experts, who have studied the subject at length, warn that even 100% European companies are not immune. As soon as they have significant commercial relations with the United States, they potentially fall within the scope of US law. The European single market thus finds itself in a legal gray area that is worrying to say the least…
A regulatory clash between the EU and US blocs seems to be looming. On the one hand, European data protection authorities can prohibit transfers to third countries under the GDPR. On the other, Washington claims full extraterritorial reach for its laws. Between the two, the Data Privacy Framework appears to be a shaky bridge over a precipice.
The German opinion rightly points out this contradiction. Experts stress the urgent need to build European alternatives to strengthen the continent’s digital autonomy. As long as Europe remains heavily dependent on US infrastructure, it will remain stuck in this legal dilemma between protecting its citizens and the geopolitical reality of the cloud.
