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Congress gave the FBI the role to hack any computer anywhere in the world, no matter who those computers were suspected to belong to. When it needed a warrant

Congress gave the FBI the role to hack any computer anywhere in the world, no matter who those computers were suspected to belong to. When it needed a warrant it had a pretty complicated process, and frequently resorted to gaining cooperation with the local authorities in another country and getting dual local warrant equivalents in another country. A costly redundancy and not always achievable. The FBI is just getting the US court system to help with the mandate Congress already gave them.

Intermernet 10y ago
Or, rephrased, Congress gave the FBI a mandate they couldn't legally fulfil.
- tptacek 10y ago
  Can you be more specific here? Normally, when Congress tasks an agency with something, that tasking defines the contours of what is and isn't legal. Defining "legal" is Congress's job.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- cloudjacker 10y ago
  that's not true at all. The FBI has had no problem hacking computers around the world, getting the legal cooperation required domestically and abroad, and winning court cases. This change simply streamlines the process
makomk 10y ago
I don't think that's quite right. As I understand it, the FBI could get a search warrant for non-US computers from courts essentially anywhere in the US they liked under the old rules. What they couldn't do was get a warrant from a judge and use it to hack computers in the US that were outside that judge's jurisdiction.
- cloudjacker 10y ago
  hey, the rules I was referring to were the old rules, not today's article.
bradleyjg 10y ago
Can you point me to the statutory language that "gave the FBI the role to hack any computer anywhere in the world, no matter who those computers were suspected to belong to"? Thanks.
- cloudjacker 10y ago
  sure I'll see if I can find it, I had looked into this for the Silk Road case, where they hacked into a computer in Reykjavik Iceland I found it at that point in time

Intermernet 10y ago

Or, rephrased, Congress gave the FBI a mandate they couldn't legally fulfil.

tptacek 10y ago
Can you be more specific here? Normally, when Congress tasks an agency with something, that tasking defines the contours of what is and isn't legal. Defining "legal" is Congress's job.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
cloudjacker 10y ago
that's not true at all. The FBI has had no problem hacking computers around the world, getting the legal cooperation required domestically and abroad, and winning court cases. This change simply streamlines the process

makomk 10y ago

I don't think that's quite right. As I understand it, the FBI could get a search warrant for non-US computers from courts essentially anywhere in the US they liked under the old rules. What they couldn't do was get a warrant from a judge and use it to hack computers in the US that were outside that judge's jurisdiction.

cloudjacker 10y ago
hey, the rules I was referring to were the old rules, not today's article.

bradleyjg 10y ago

Can you point me to the statutory language that "gave the FBI the role to hack any computer anywhere in the world, no matter who those computers were suspected to belong to"? Thanks.

cloudjacker 10y ago
sure I'll see if I can find it, I had looked into this for the Silk Road case, where they hacked into a computer in Reykjavik Iceland I found it at that point in time