Google Blasts DOJ’s Request For Expanded Search Powers; Calls Proposal A Threat To The Fourth Amendment
by Tim Cushing
TechDirt.com
Mon, Feb 23rd 2015
The DOJ wants to amend Rule 41 (Search and Seizure) to grant its agencies unilateral powers to hack any computer in the world. This would expand its reach beyond the US, using warrants granted by magistrate judges to facilitate searches and seizures of remote data. This would obviously open up a whole diplomatic can of worms, what with the FBI hacking into computers whose locations it can’t ascertain until after the fact.
Not that the DOJ is bothered by the implications of the amendment it’s pushing. It argues that the law already has determined searches in known jurisdictions legal. What’s left to be established is whether it’s similarly legal to search computers whose true location is unknown, thanks to the use of proxies and VPNs. That operating extraterritorially might cause some diplomatic strain or possibly even be illegal in the country the search takes place doesn’t seem to have crossed its mind. In its opinion, this is the natural progression of Rule 41, which must be updated to reflect the change in technology.
The Rest…HERE
