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Does anyone know whether the Supreme Court has provided any clarification about whether the amended rules purport to allow American officials to search computer
by pash 10y ago
Does anyone know whether the Supreme Court has provided any clarification about whether the amended rules purport to allow American officials to search computers in foreign countries? Or whether the Justice Department has indicated how it will interpret the new rules?
I asked this question in a thread here when the rules were proposed earlier this year, but received no replies because the topic was deleted as a duplicate. In the months since then, I've seen plenty of speculation in reporting on the issue, but nothing close to an answer to the question—so let me repeat it:
Do these new rules expand the claimed foreign jurisdiction of US federal courts, or not?
The amended rules provide new authorities for issuing warrants when "the district where the media or information is located has been concealed through technological means". In other words, the new rules seem to expand the authority of federal courts when there is a question of which district court has jurisdiction. But what do these new rules mean for cases in which the location of the information is clearly outside of the jurisdiction of any US federal district court, or when there is a question of whether it might be?
Apparently the rules were previously amended to remove the definition of "district court" [0], making this question still more subtle. Note also that the rules explicitly expand the jurisdiction of US federal courts to issue warrants "inside or outside" the geography of their districts in cases of terrorism, but not explicitly otherwise. I believe that rule has been interpreted to mean that federal courts may issue warrants worldwide, without regard to sovereign geography, in terrorist cases.
0. See the note pertaining to Rule 1(b) of the 2002 amendment, at https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_1 https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_1
- sesutton 10y ago>Does anyone know whether the Supreme Court has provided any clarification about whether the amended rules purport to allow American officials to search computers in foreign countries? Or whether the Justice Department has indicated how it will interpret the new rules? Microsoft's attempt to quash a warrant forcing it to turn over emails stored in Ireland seems relevant. The last I can find the Second Circuit ruled in Microsoft's favor. This[0] article talks about the case it's effect on Rule 41. [0]http://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2016/08/02/the-microsoft-warrant-case-unintended-consequences-of-the-second-circuits-ruling/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/insider/2016/08/02/the-microsoft...
- benevol 10y ago> whether the amended rules purport to allow American officials to search computers in foreign countries? How relevant is this question really, if we now know that they've been doing all this already for quite some time? What does it say about their need for legal rules?