Google Inc. on Thursday put forward a proposal to revamp laws governing the access of data held in overseas data centers that could potentially aid criminal investigations.

The tech giant is hoping to pioneer a new legal framework that would aid prosecutors while continuing to protect user’s privacy. Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president and general counsel, outlined its proposal in a lengthy blog post, saying that existing laws around the collection of data for use in legal cases are outdated.

Walker also noted that although U.S. law enforcement agencies are generally granted new powers as technology evolves – for example, the ability to obtain warrants to access people’s emails – a “fundamental realignment” is required to adapt today’s laws for the Internet.

Internet companies such as Google have increasingly faced requests from foreign governments to release data that may aid criminal investigations. In general, most companies have resisted such requests because they have no legal obligation to provide access to data that resides in facilities outside of the country that requested it.

A notable case involving Microsoft Corp. last year saw it fight tooth and nail to refuse U.S. law enforcement access to data on a person suspected of involvement in the narcotics trade. The data was stored at Microsoft’s data center in Dublin, Ireland, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed that it did not need to provide access, even though Microsoft is based in the U.S.

That case, and others, has sparked a conversation on whether tech companies ought to comply with such requests. Now, Google believes it’s come up with a framework for such cases that should satisfy everyone involved. The framework would allow nations to commit to “baseline privacy, human rights and due process principles,” while at the same time gaining access to data for law enforcement purposes.

Under the system, law enforcement agencies could request data from companies such as Google and Microsoft directly, circumventing a lot of government bureaucracy. That’s important because Google says it takes about 10 months on average for a foreign nation to gain access to data via existing diplomatic processes, which are governed by the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Google didn’t say how long such requests might take under its new framework, but it’s likely to be a lot faster.

Google said agreements under its framework would work both ways, so the U.S. government could access data held in foreign nations, and foreign nations would get the same access to U.S.-based data. The company admits it’s asking for “a lot of movement” from governments, but said this is “not a reason for inaction.”

“We believe these reforms would not only help law enforcement conduct more effective investigations but also encourage countries to improve and align on privacy and due process standards,” Walker wrote. “Further, reducing the amount of time countries have to wait to gather evidence means would reduce the pressure to pursue more problematic ways of trying to gather data.”

Google said these “problematic ways” include the belief by some governments that they can extend their laws to cover data held outside their borders. The company added that it is “ready to do our part” in order to make its proposal a reality, and invited academics, legislators, regulators and other tech companies to start discussing ways in which the current, convoluted system could be overhauled.

Image: Robert Scoble/Flickr