U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Omnibus Spending Bill into law Friday afternoon. The bill passed the House of Representatives Thursday, followed by the Senate Thursday night. Tucked inside the massive spending bill is the Clarifying Overseas Use of Data Act, which deals with cross-border data access in law enforcement cases. The controversial bill has garnered wide support from the tech industry and opposition from privacy advocacy groups. Microsoft has been involved in a long-running legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice over access to emails stored on a server in Ireland. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., released a joint statement opposing the CLOUD Act. According to Jennifer Daskal and Peter Swire, CIPP/US, each of whom have expressed support for the bill, passage of the CLOUD Act makes the Microsoft Ireland case in SCOTUS moot. Editor's Note: Jedidiah Bracy, CIPP, wrote about the CLOUD Act in last week's U.S. Privacy Digest letter. 
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