What are the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Cloud Act?

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Cloud Act are U.S legislations obliging American cloud providers to provide upon request to U.S intelligence agencies and courts individuals' data that they store, control and manage in the United States or even remotely.

These transfers, that are conducted without individuals’ consent and controllers being informed, are considered an invasion of data subjects’ privacy as they can’t oppose them.

When dealing with cloud providers situated in the US, the European Court of Justice has ruled necessary for business owners to put in place complementary security measures to protect personal data (like anonymization or encryption).

To counteract these legislations personal data can also be stored in the European Union (or in an adequate country) by a cloud provider which is not American.