Britain is on the brink of getting access to the secret Gmail and Facebook messages of terrorists for the first time, The Telegraph can reveal.
A new US law to be voted on imminently would allow British investigators to obtain messages sent by serious criminals stored in America.
The “Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data” or Cloud Act has been added to a 2,200-page spending bill at the last minute after intense British lobbying.
Currently, US internet giants are banned from handing over emails and private messages to foreign law enforcement officials in all but a tiny number of cases.
But the Cloud Act would remove that barrier, allowing America to sign an agreement with Britain making US...