Supreme Court Quietly Approves Rule to Give FBI 'Sprawling' Hacking Powers

[JEB]

Absent action by Congress, the rule change will go into effect in December
by
Nadia Prupis, staff write

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/29/supreme-court-quietly-approves-rule-give-fbi-sprawling-hacking-powers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday quietly approved a rule change that would allow a federal magistrate judge to issue a search and seizure warrant for any target using anonymity software like Tor to browse the internet.

<snip>

"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 lot more of it," said Kevin Bankston, director of the policy advocacy group Open Technology Institute (OTI), which previously testified against the changes. "Congress should stop this power-grab in its tracks and instead demand answers from the FBI, which so far has been ducking Congress' questions on this issue and fighting in court to keep its hacking tactics secret."

<snip>

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the more outspoken privacy advocates in Congress, slammed the proposal as a "sprawling expansion of government surveillance" and called on Congress to reject it.

<snip>

"These are complex issues involving privacy, digital security and our Fourth Amendment rights, which require thoughtful debate and public vetting," Wyden said. "Substantive policy changes like these are clearly a job for Congress, the American people and their elected representatives, not an obscure bureaucratic process."


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Wyden is my senator and I am glad to hear he's speaking up for privacy. Still trying to decide if that's enough to forget his support of corporate trade agreements when I fill out my ballot. I think the whole short article deserves a thoughtful read.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/29/supreme-court-quietly-approves-rule-give-fbi-sprawling-hacking-powers

[bemildred]

1. Well, if you're hiding something, you must be guilty.

Except in the case of offshore assets, of course, like the Panama Papers, then it's OK, there are good reasons to hide stuff like that.

But seriously, I didn't think there could be a worse embarassment than the Rehnquist Court, but Roberts has managed to do it with ease.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Clearly, John Roberts doesn't understand how intertubes work.

[JEB]

3. It's beginning to smell like fascism and

hardly anybody notices or cares.

[RoccoR5955]

4. Let them hack

into my honeypot. They will be trapped like a rat!
Then they will be infected with malware from trying to break into my network.
This is not too hard to thwart. You just need the knowledge of networks and how they work, then set up your own "hacker trapper" at home. I have already caught several from the former Soviet Union and China attempting to break in.