Pressure mounts against Rule 41 – the FBI's power to hack Tor, VPN users on sight
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/21/google_paypal_and_hide_my_ass_vpn_join_fight_against_rule_41_change/
The campaign against Rule 41 which will give cops and Feds in America the power to hack people's computers around the world has kicked up a gear.
Leaders of the US House of Representatives and Senate got a letter today urging them to block the rule change before it becomes permanent in December.
The proposed legislative tweak, quietly passed by an obscure committee and approved by the Supreme Court in April, would allow a US magistrate judge to grant law enforcement access to any stored data on a computer, phone, or any storage device around the world that was suspected of being "related" to a crime.
The amendment would also grant automatic legal approval for police hacking against those who use technology to conceal "the district where the media or information is located." Tor and VPN users, that means you: by accessing information remotely through an anonymizing or proxy service that hides where the information is truly stored, you'll be fair game to the authorities.