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from the hack-and-search-sounds-like-a-boring-dungeon-crawl dept.
The U.S. Department of Justice wants new authority to hack and search remote computers during investigations, saying the new rules (Giant pdf) are needed because of complex criminal schemes sometimes using millions of machines spread across the country. Digital rights groups say the request from the DOJ for authority to search computers outside the district where an investigation is based raises concerns about Internet security and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. "By expanding federal law enforcement's power to secretly exploit 'zero-day' vulnerabilities in software and Internet platforms, the proposal threatens to weaken Internet security for all of us," Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said by email.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by tibman on Tuesday May 13 2014, @06:47PM
The one thing that i understand is that sometimes they need access to a machine outside the US borders. If the country hosting the computer is unwilling to participate in the trial then how do you get the evidence? Physical things aren't as difficult because you can't just reach outside the country and use them for a crime. But a botnet for example could be global in reach. You may bag the criminal but his tools are still alive and probably still at work. No one country can clean up that mess unless they take control of the botnet. Botnets probably don't care about court orders.
It seems like government hacking is not done in a transparent way though. If they made it public then things would be different. Heck, people would probably love to see the stories about breaking into criminal networks and wrecking house.
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