It’s a quandary currently causing anguish for American law-makers: Should the US government (aiming to track and rout terrorists and fraudsters) have the power to search email data that’s stored on a server in another country? Or would this open the floodgates for international ‘snooping’ and thus be a potential violation of personal data privacy? How seriously would global business be affected if data no longer feels secure and protected across borders? Robert Howells investigates the facts, weighs up the pros and cons and worries about the future . . .