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> rules make it hard to get a warrant today Procedural or otherwise, rules that make getting a warrant hard is a feature, not a bug. Perhaps "hard" is too stro
by pdkl95 11y ago
> rules make it hard to get a warrant today
Procedural or otherwise, rules that make getting a warrant hard is a feature, not a bug. Perhaps "hard" is too strong; the 4th Amendment requirement for specific warrants is intended to add a burdeon to the warrant process. Preventing generalizations that make search and seizure easier is the very reason the 4th Amendment was written.
> require you to get warrants in every district
If a search is to be performed in many districts, they yes, that is what the constitution requires. As for Tor hidden services, I'm going to echo Susan Landau's advice to congress during the recent FBI/Apple backdoor hearings. The FBI needs to update their investigative methods. Modern technology provides many new ways to investigate. We already know that the NSA, for example, is very adept at using side channels and metadata.
Your "Tor hidden service" example assumes that giving these powers are the only way to prosecute some criminal cases. It's basically demonstrating a lack of creativity.
> inaccessible
Warrants are a permission to conduct a search and seize certain items if they find them. It is not a guarantee that the search will be successful; nor should it be. Besides, it isn't going to be inaccessible in many cases anyway. You already know the power of timing attacks and traffic analysis. That should be enough, in many cases, to figure out which jurisdiction(s) should be searched. The only reason you would need a warrant in "every" district is if nobody even bothered investigating.
- tptacek 11y agoWhy should it be made difficult to get a warrant? I don't understand. Making it difficult for law enforcement to casually search things without oversight is a good thing. But making it harder for the courts themselves to direct searches seems like... I don't know, a bad thing?
- pdkl95 11y ago> made difficult > making it harder It's not being "made difficult". Nobody is making the warrant process harder. You're trying to reframe the status quo as a new difficulty in the warrant process.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- rhino369 11y agoThe old rules make it proceedurally hard to get warrant, not substantively hard. You could have a website openly selling sex slaves hidden behind TOR and you couldn't get a warrant because nobody knows where the site is located. Meanwhile, the Feds can easily get a warrant some some innocuous stuff like selling raw milk because locating a real business is easy. This just deals with an issue of where you know the specific server or network of servers you want to search but can't know where they are physically located. This just enable a dragnet to go search random computers.
- rayiner 11y agoThe constitution has nothing to say about which districts must issue a warrant. The constitution doesn't even require there be different districts. Congress could abolish all the lower federal courts tomorrow and create one giant district court for the whole country.
- DannyBee 11y agoAs Ray says, when you say "If a search is to be performed in many districts, they yes, that is what the constitution requires.", this is just gobbledygook. Please cite any part of the constitution that says anything about this.