Safe Cloud Storage Act Introduced
The Safe Cloud Storage Act Modernizes Digital Evidence Handling to Protect Children
Washington, D.C. — Last week, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the Safe Cloud Storage Act, a bipartisan bill that empowers law enforcement to securely store and process child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in the cloud. This modernizes evidence handling practices and helps bring offenders to justice more quickly.
As the volume of digital evidence containing CSAM continues to rise, investigators across the country face mounting challenges. Agencies rely heavily on physical storage media such as thumb drives, external hard drives, and on-premise servers, which are expensive, limited in capacity, and prone to delays. Without access to secure cloud-based tools, evidence analysis and victim identification can take months longer than necessary.
The Safe Cloud Storage Act, drafted and advanced by Jennifer Dunton, Director of Legislative Affairs at RAVEN, directly addresses these barriers by:
Authorizing law enforcement to transmit, store, and process CSAM and obscene visual depictions of children in secure, cloud-based environments.
Establishing cybersecurity standards for approved cloud vendors, including NIST compliance, to ensure the highest levels of protection.
Defining “approved vendors” that meet strict security requirements and can lawfully provide storage and processing services to law enforcement.
Providing limited liability protections for those vendors when operating within federally approved frameworks, promoting responsible participation while maintaining accountability.
“The Safe Cloud Storage Act bridges the gap between what technology can do and what the law currently allows,” said Jennifer Dunton, Director of Legislative Affairs at Raven. “By modernizing how agencies handle CSAM evidence, we can help investigators move faster, protect victims sooner, and hold offenders accountable with the tools this digital era demands.”
By enabling secure, cloud-based processing, the bill accelerates investigations, reduces costs, and protects the integrity of sensitive evidence, ensuring that children are safeguarded, and predators are held fully accountable.
The Safe Cloud Storage Act reflects strong bipartisan cooperation and a shared commitment to modernizing America’s child protection infrastructure in the face of evolving digital threats.
Media Contact:
Brenna Pitman
Director of Development
Brenna@raven.us