https://theintercept.com/2016/04/28/supreme-court-gives-fbi-more-hacking-power/
>Supreme Court Gives FBI More Hacking Power
>The Supreme Court on Thursday approved changes that would make it easier for the FBI to hack into computers, many of them belonging to victims of cybercrime. The changes will take immediate affect in December, unless Congress adopts competing legislation.
>Previously, under the federal rules on criminal procedures, a magistrate judge couldn’t approve a warrant request to search a computer remotely if the investigator didn’t know where the computer was—because it might be outside his or her jurisdiction.
>The rule change, sent in a letter to Congress on Thursday, would allow a magistrate judge to issue a warrant to search or seize an electronic device if the target is using anonymity software like Tor. Over a million people use Tor to browse popular websites like Facebook every month for perfectly legitimate reasons, in addition to criminals who use it to hide their locations.
>The changes, which would allow the FBI go hunting for anyone browsing the Internet anonymously in the U.S. with a single warrant, are already raising concerns among privacy advocates who have been closely following the issue.
>“Whatever euphemism the FBI uses to describe it—whether they call it a ‘remote access search’ or a ‘network investigative technique’—what we’re talking about is government hacking, and this obscure rule change would authorize a whole lot more of it,” Kevin Bankston, director of Open Technology Institute, said in a press release.
>Ahmed Ghappour, a visiting professor at University of California Hastings Law School, has described it as “possibly the broadest expansion of extraterritorial surveillance power since the FBI’s inception” because it could potentially allow the FBI to hack a large number of computers domestically and abroad.
...
>The Supreme Court ruling also expands the warrants to allow the FBI to hack into computers in five or more districts that have been hacked, such as those infected by a botnet—a type of malware that gives criminal hackers the power to take over many innocent “zombie” computers to distribute spam or spread viruses.
>This part of the ruling would allow the FBI to search the victim’s property, explained Amie Stepanovich, senior policy counsel for digital rights group Access Now in a message to The Intercept.
>“On account of their distributed nature, investigations of unlawful botnets undoubtedly pose a significant barrier to law enforcement,” she said in testimony before an obscure judiciary committee that considered the rule change before it got to the Supreme Court.
>However, “the proposed amendment unilaterally expands [FBI] investigations to further encompass the devices of the victims themselves, those who have already suffered injury and are most at risk by the further utilization of the botnet.”
>It’s up to Congress to propose legislation that would modify or reject the proposed changes to the criminal procedure rules. Lawmakers have until Dec. 1, otherwise the new policies would immediately take affect.
>“These amendments will have significant consequences for Americans’ privacy and the scope of the government’s powers to conduct remote surveillance and searches of electronic devices,” Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in a press release. “I plan to introduce legislation to reverse these amendments shortly, and to request details on the opaque process for the authorization and use of hacking techniques by the government.”
more coverage:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-warrants-highcourt-idUSKCN0XP2XU
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/28/supreme-court-widens-fbi-hacking-powers/
>>41530
>>The Supreme Court ruling also expands the warrants to allow the FBI to hack into computers in five or more districts that have been hacked
Pretty vague there, creates a big loophole. Surely there is no way this could be abused by an overzealous investigator or anything...
Hacking wars now?
Tech savvy criminals using anonymous IP and other software to make themselves appear across the world when they're actually next door? The answer is simple, overturn the law requiring them to know if the criminal is in your jurisdiction. This may allow them to track down those who use unwilling users to have their computers used for cyber attacks, since recruiting someones computer for a botnet would fall under breaking and entering, possibly theft.
Would you allow someone to come by and take your car for a spin without you knowing?
>>41639
>overturn the law requiring them to know if the criminal is in your jurisdiction
That's fucked up
>>41530
>>The Supreme Court ruling also expands the warrants to allow the FBI to hack into computers in five or more districts that have been hacked, such as those infected by a botnet
So basically now the FBI can create botnets so they have an excuse to enter people computers.
>>41660
>create botnets
They don't even have to do that. All they must do is allege someone was infected with a botnet. This seems almost like they're trying to retroactively legitimize existing abuses.
Prepare for more reports of people indicted for possession of child pornography.
>>41701
inb4 any old Alexa malware counts as "a botnet" to them. Hell, in some circles Windows 10 counts as a botnet.
>>41704
>fbi are gentoomen
wouldn't surprise me t b h
>>41706
>fbi's REAL goal is to get us to switch to linux.
>>41739
Implying they don't have all the best intentions.
It's like you have no blind faith in unaccountable authority.
Next you'll be saying the Patriot Act has nothing to do with patriotism.
