Questions and Resources about Searches of Cloud Storage

If a law enforcement officer obtains a search warrant for a suspect’s cell phone, may the officer use the phone to access cloud storage to which it is linked? For example, may the officer click on the Dropbox icon on the phone’s home screen and see what’s there? This post asks several questions about the legal status of cloud storage. Most of the questions don’t have definite answers, as far as I know, but the post collects some helpful legal resources that lawyers, magistrates, and judges grappling with cloud storage questions may find helpful. Here’s my list of questions: Do users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in cloud storage given that they typically have password-protected accounts? Or does the third party doctrine apply given that the storage provider has control of the data? Do the storage provider’s terms of service impact the above question? Different providers have different terms, with some giving the provider great control over the data and others promising a hands-off approach. If there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in cloud storage, does the Stored Communications Act apply to data stored in the cloud? If there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in cloud storage, may a search of a linked device include a search of the cloud storage? If so, is access to linked cloud storage automatically permissible as part of a search of a linked device, or must it be separately justified or authorized? If there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in cloud [...]