The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 5 passed a bipartisan bill led by U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that would modernize how law enforcement investigates child sexual exploitation by authorizing secure, cloud-based storage for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) evidence.
“Those helping law enforcement in the fight against child sexual exploitation must be able to securely store evidence of these horrific crimes,” Sen. Blackburn said. “Our bipartisan Safe Cloud Storage Act would ensure investigators can securely handle and store CSAM evidence in the cloud by providing limited liability protections, and I’m pleased it is one step closer to becoming law.”
Sen. Blackburn in October 2025 sponsored the Safe Cloud Storage Act, S. 3023, alongside lead original cosponsor U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to provide limited liability protections to law enforcement-approved vendors to securely store and transfer CSAM to assist in investigations of child sexual exploitation.
“We must do everything we can to protect our children from online exploitation and abuse,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “Our common-sense, bipartisan bill would improve investigations and prosecutions by allowing law enforcement to safely store and transmit evidence using cloud systems — saving time and resources.”
The Safe Cloud Storage Act is supported by Raven, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Thorn, the International Justice Mission, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Child Rescue Coalition, the National District Attorneys Association, the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
The bill now heads to the full chamber for consideration.