The FBI Just Got Disturbing New Hacking Powers

[friendly_iconoclast]

https://gizmodo.com/the-fbi-just-got-disturbing-new-hacking-powers-1789548207

At midnight, the U.S. government quietly gained expansive new surveillance abilities after a last-ditch effort to stop changes to the federal code of criminal procedure died on the Senate floor.

Senator Ron Wyden tried three times on Wednesday to stall the rule changes, which let judges give federal agents the authority to hack multiple computers in any jurisdiction at once, including those belonging to innocent malware victims.

“By sitting here and doing nothing, the Senate has given consent to this expansion of government hacking and surveillance,” said Wyden on Wednesday. “Law-abiding Americans are going to ask ‘what were you guys thinking?’ when the FBI starts hacking victims of a botnet hack. Or when a mass hack goes awry and breaks their device, or an entire hospital system and puts lives at risk.”

Under the old version of “Rule 41,” agencies like the FBI needed to apply for a warrant in the right jurisdiction to hack a computer, presenting difficulties when investigating crimes involving suspects who had anonymized their locations or machines in multiple places. Under the new version, a federal judge can approve a single search warrant covering multiple computers even if their owners are innocent or their locations are unknown.

How long will it be before disabling FBI malware on your own computer becomes a crime?

[vi5]

1. Remember how comfortable people on here were with this type of bullshit...

..when we were in the White House? Let's see how quickly those same folks change their tune now that we have an actual fascist in the oval office.

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. I do, and myself and others tried to warn people- and most really didn't care, because...

...Our People were running the Executive Branch and were going to be doing so until 2020 at least.

Needless to say, that mindset has ended up biting all us in the ass, hard...