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FBI Seeks To Legally Hack You If You're Connected To TOR Or a VPN

SonicSpike writes The investigative arm of the Department of Justice is attempting to short-circuit the legal checks of the Fourth Amendment by requesting a change in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. These procedural rules dictate how law enforcement agencies must conduct criminal prosecutions, from investigation to trial. Any deviations from the rules can have serious consequences, including dismissal of a case. The specific rule the FBI is targeting outlines the terms for obtaining a search warrant. It's called Federal Rule 41(b), and the requested change would allow law enforcement to obtain a warrant to search electronic data without providing any specific details as long as the target computer location has been hidden through a technical tool like Tor or a virtual private network. It would also allow nonspecific search warrants where computers have been intentionally damaged (such as through botnets, but also through common malware and viruses) and are in five or more separate federal judicial districts. Furthermore, the provision would allow investigators to seize electronically stored information regardless of whether that information is stored inside or outside the court's jurisdiction.

385 comments

  1. Bad idea by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the FBI starts to attack Tor and VPN users, those users are going to fight back. If they are not in the US the FBI might not be able to stop them doing it either.

    All this kind of thing does is make the US a more legitimate target for cyber attacks. The NSA and GCHQ are already fair game for hacking because they try to illegally hack you, so it's just self defence.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. Re:Bad idea by TWX · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wouldn't be surprised if people put up honeypots on Tor just to mess with 'em, and log all of the output over serial or something so that even if they get in, they can't purge the logs of their attempts.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Bad idea by ron_ivi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most VPNs are corporate.

      I imagine corporations will fight back legally if/when their employees start getting hacked by the FBI.

    3. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think thats the point. Once they start fighting back, you can now openly declare war, and then have everyone who even remotely looks suspicious arrested.

      Read, the war on nerds continues

      Realisticly what can we do?

      How about this, until this happy horse shit stops, lets all boycott working for the federal government. Take a job somewhere else. Unexpectedly find reasons to be somewhere else when they ask for help. Play internet detective and debunk all their theories on digital warfare.

      Someone else can wage digital war on North Korea, Syria, Russia, and China. Someone else can keep state secrets safe. Just pass this around until we get a complete boycott on working for Uncle Sam.

      Lets also continue to heckle recruiters and inform the n00bs to stay away from these people.

      We don't need a war, we need to go on strike.

    4. Re:Bad idea by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the FBI starts to attack Tor and VPN users, those users are going to fight back.

      Both TFA and the summary wildly misrepresent what this is all about. The FBI is NOT asking for permission to attack anyone that happens to be using Tor or a VPN. What they are asking for is the ability to get a warrant to search a particular Tor/VPN node, that appears to be engaging in criminal activity, without knowing who the owner is or where the system is physically located.

    5. Re:Bad idea by epyT-R · · Score: 0

      No, they'll simply get exemptions, or otherwise fire those employees. The state and the corporation signed a nonaggression pact years ago. Sure, they'll play-fight in the media or sacrifice each other occasionally over petty squabbles, but that's not the status quo.

    6. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      The war on nerds was won a long time ago, when we Real People first ostracized you and exiled your stinking ilk from proper society, then when we reinvented the image of the "nerd" and turned it into a clownish figure for the amusement of the masses. You are now exactly where we want you. And since there are precious few "jobs" available to neckbeards, suggesting to turn down an offer from the State would be... Unwise.

    7. Re:Bad idea by PhilHibbs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why would my employer fire me for using the corporate VPN from home? That's precisely what the VPN is for!

    8. Re:Bad idea by PhilHibbs · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm sure Airbus cared when the GCHQ snooped on the details of a bidding process and handed over the details to Boeing.

    9. Re:Bad idea by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They would care because they don't want the FBI hacking into their employee's computers while connected to the company servers via VPN. This "caring" might be due to caring about their employees (rare but it does exist in corporations), caring about their own computer security (much more likely), or worry over a FBI VPN hack uncovering corporate wrong doing (definitely possible). Companies that rely on VPN will use their lobbying might to fight this and there are some big companies that rely on VPN. I don't see this as gaining traction.

      Then again, if the government screams "TERRORISM" or "PROTECT THE CHILDREN" loud and often enough, they've proven they can get almost anything passed. It's time someone changed the country's root passwords!

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    10. Re:Bad idea by meta-monkey · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, it's not like the high-functioning sociopaths that seem so well-represented in the programmer population would be at all interested in the six-figure salaries offered by the secret government agencies with access to the most advanced and expensive computing resources on the planet, and may, with the blessing of the government, go crack and exploit all the things. I'm sure the "strike" will be very effective.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    11. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't know who the owner of the TOR/VPN node is or where its located, then how do you know there is probable cause to get a warrant? NO probable cause, NO WARRANT!! It is my inderstanding (I could be wrong) that a warrant has to name a specific person or place, and what is to be searched for. If you don't know where the node is, how do you know its within the FBI's jurisdiction and not in a forein country?

    12. Re:Bad idea by mi · · Score: 0

      And I'm sure, it is the "handed over" part, that upset Airbus — not so much the snooping itself.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    13. Re:Bad idea by ub3r+n3u7r4l1st · · Score: 0

      "Realisticly what can we do?"

      Read the U.S. Constitutions again. The key is in that old document where modern presidents treating it as toilet paper.

      Hint: pay attention to the second amendment. It gives you certain rights to conduct certain activities.

    14. Re:Bad idea by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wait till your corporations trade secrets are leaked because the FBI's collector was insecure.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    15. Re:Bad idea by redmid17 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do you know what a corporate VPN is?

      I only ask because it does not seem like you know what a VPN is, let alone a corporate VPN.

    16. Re:Bad idea by epyT-R · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I meant if you were using one on their system for something else as it would be breaking the law. The net result is that VPN use without a license will become a federal offense, like everything else.

    17. Re:Bad idea by redmid17 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The ability to get a warrant "without providing specific details" and the person doesn't have to be within the court's jurisdiction.

      That's, um, just as troubling as it sounds.

    18. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the Sixth Amendment: "...and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

      If they can't identify whose information they're looking through, where they are, or what they're looking for (as opposed to trawling all of the available data hoping to find something), it seems to me that it's their problem, and shouldn't be ours.

    19. Re:Bad idea by Holi · · Score: 2

      Well since treason is also in the constitution I think you will find that your 2nd amendment right does not include an attempt to violently overthrow the government.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    20. Re:Bad idea by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 1

      And since there are precious few "jobs" available to neckbeards

      ...until the nerds invented Bitcoin.

    21. Re:Bad idea by mi · · Score: 2

      Wait till your corporations trade secrets are leaked because the FBI's collector was insecure.

      Yes, if that ever happens, a corporation's bottom line will be affected, and it (and others) will begin fighting it.

      But a principled stand? Don't count on it...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    22. Re:Bad idea by houghi · · Score: 1

      They just sold it to the highest bidder. Capitalism at its finest.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    23. Re:Bad idea by mean+pun · · Score: 2

      Hint: pay attention to the second amendment. It gives you certain rights to conduct certain activities.

      If one person takes up arms against the US government he's a lone wolf, a crazy, an incident. If one hundred people do, they're an extremist organisation (under a certain threshold of skin darkness) or a terrorist organisation (over said threshold). If a hundred thousand people do this, they are a political movement, and they may as well use political means, because organising a hundred thousand people will have required a lot of politics anyway, and it is better to just continue.

      Can anyone name a successful change of politics in US history through second-amendment means?

    24. Re:Bad idea by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's, um, just as troubling as it sounds.

      Yes, it is troubling, and we should be having a rational discussion about that. Instead we have a lot of hysterical rants based on the wildly misleading headline, summary, and article, that imply that the FBI wants to "legally hack" anyone connected to TOR or a VPN. That is not at all what this is about. By trying to manufacture outrage about a phony issue, the author is obfuscating the real issue.

    25. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Were it not for the snooping, there would have been nothing to hand over.

    26. Re:Bad idea by phayes · · Score: 2

      Kind of hard to complain (but they do anyway) when the DGSE is snooping on Boeing & handing the info over to Airbus...

      --
      Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
    27. Re:Bad idea by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can't really separate those things. The simple fact of securing information is that once it's out you have zero control over where it goes.

      As a company, the only outside people who should get access to your information are your lawyers and entities that have signed an NDA. Unless GCHQ is going to sign an NDA, a competent Airbus managment can not tolerate snooping.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    28. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can anyone name a successful change of politics in US history through second-amendment means?

      Yes, murdered children and adults at school shootings are now simply considered an acceptable loss in the preservation of your unfettered second amendment rights. Meanwhile, first and fourth are being chipped away at constantly.

    29. Re:Bad idea by TemporalBeing · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I imagine corporations will fight back legally if/when their employees start getting hacked by the FBI.

      Why would a corporation care?

      One word: Liability.

      Corporations would very much care because of liability concerns - both domestically to the US and foreign to other countries. It's already becoming enough of an issue that companies are taking to hosting data regionally instead of centrally just from a legal liability perspective.

      For instance, suppose there was conversation going on regarding what to disclose to the US government over the operations of a foreign subsidiary between the execs and their lawyers? Regardless of the topic, matter-at-hand, or end result that is protected conversation regardless of medium, and the existence of the VPN would mean they expected it to be carried out in private.

      And you can certainly bet the lawfirms will fight it too.

      --
      Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
    30. Re:Bad idea by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      Capitalism is amoral. By that I mean it has no "right or wrong" other than a drive towards efficient market. People who make judgements have morals (or lack thereof) . We don't live in a Capitalist marketplace. There are way too many intrusions into free enterprise by government to be capitalist, we are just a socialist, corporatist, capitalist hybrid.

      And of course, we have plenty of people who take a short term approach to market and cash out long term goals for short term profits, the long term result are a slew of failures that were rewarded early.

      When all you see is the next quarter, you end up selling APPLE stock in '97 for $14.25 instead of holding onto it.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    31. Re:Bad idea by geekmux · · Score: 1

      And since there are precious few "jobs" available to neckbeards

      ...until the nerds invented Bitcoin.

      Until nerds invent a whole new form of greed and corruption, don't assume any hint of power or control is real.

      After all, those controlling the incumbent monetary systems certainly don't have a problem blackballing any new eCurrency.

    32. Re:Bad idea by mpercy · · Score: 2

      The Revolutionary War?

    33. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe it was used to end slavery against the Democrats objections.

    34. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think having guns is enough to overthrow the government, without resorting to illegal and treasonous means, think again. If you're going to bother with armed revolt, however, why do you care what the constitution allows?

    35. Re:Bad idea by rwise2112 · · Score: 2

      Why would a corporation care?

      My corporation would care as we access data that's considered controlled goods, and can be fined heavily and lose a good part of our business if the data gets accessed by anyone else. I'm not sure the State Department is going to say that's ok, since it was the FBI, because the VPN is then known to not be secure.

      --

      "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
    36. Re:Bad idea by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      No, but the Declaration of Independence does.

      I dare say, we have an obligation to overthrow a government that is Tyrannical in nature, which doesn't hold up the cornerstone foundation of our country (the Constitution). It is clear, from the elections, that changing the politicians have little to no effect on the bureaucratic machine that is eroding our rights daily.

      "but but but those are family men and women, innocent and didn't know any better ... they were just following orders"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    37. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1
      Obvious troll is obvious, but I think you'll find the "war on nerds" is receding. Google is finally large enough to buy congresscritters, 90s nostaliga and "nerd culture", i.e. a whole slew of hipsters posing as nerds has never been more popular, video games went mainstream, 76% of all computers world wide run Linux, and the tech sector is the hottest field to work in. Being a "nerd" is now cool and has been for around 7-10 years now. The hipsters have finally stopped pretending to be rock'n'roll types and now want to be us.

      If you don't have a powerful 1Ghz+ dualcore internet capable computer in your pocket you're a looser, and even the trendies recent memes made online from nerds. Heck you are even on slashdot(you wouldn't see me caught dead hanging out with your lame friends).

      On ESPN and I saw them discussing the physics of the flight of a baseball when discussing sports, estimating both the neccary force for a home run, and the actual force of the ball using some pretty good maths. Their new mascot for football is a robot as well.

      Just about every industry is computerized, and the most powerful businesses and governments in the world depend on computers to function, and for their power. To include the massive intra-national cyberwars, again, all fought by nerds.

      President Obama won both elections because of internet help. First with a large grassroots movement of cyber-activists, second with a specialized team of nerds loaned from google to help connect with people. Unlike "Real People", they don't have social intellegence to connect with people, they just run statistics on people based on what they get from google, and then instead of misguiding insticts, make decisions based on logic and observation.

      Oh, speaking of "Real People", most of you are simply puppets that do whatever advertising tells you to do. Of course back in 1995 you'd have some fancy pants media type doing that. Guess who does the programming for that today? Some fucking neckbeard. The same type who told you to "Vote Obama" in 2012. But a liiiberaal consparacy you say? Guess who the only real bunch of "conservatives" really able to stick up to him? you guessed it, internet libertarians, more nerds. 20 years ago, if the media industry wanted legilsation passed it was rubber stamped. Today, SOPA/PIPA sank like a stone. Guess who's been the only real driving force in politics in the last 5 years? Nerds nerds more nerds. Some liberal nerds, some libertarian nerds.

      suggesting to turn down an offer from the State would be... Unwise.

      there is no shortage of tech jobs. If you can't see that, you're not working in industry. You'll get paid more and treated better elsewhere.

    38. Re:Bad idea by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Can anyone name a successful change of politics in US history through second-amendment means?

      1775-1783

      Which is exactly why the 2nd Amendment is there in the first place. But too many pansy ass liberals want to take away guns because "oooh scary", and want a totalitarian government telling everyone how to live.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    39. Re:Bad idea by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      the author is obfuscating the real issue.

      Are they now? Or is it perhaps that you can't see how this slippery slope is going to end. This is just simply the camel's nose in the proverbial tent.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    40. Re:Bad idea by hierophanta · · Score: 2

      good point - maybe the best way to fight back against the government is to make use of corporate lobbyist armies already in place.

    41. Re:Bad idea by PRMan · · Score: 1

      Welcome to the club. Most of us already would never work for the government.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    42. Re:Bad idea by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      They just gave it to your US competitor. Nationalism at its finest.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    43. Re:Bad idea by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Why would a corporation care?

      Because their competitor corporations might have hired a dirty FBI agent to steal their secrets.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    44. Re:Bad idea by JRV31 · · Score: 1

      The purpose of the second amendment is the final check and balance against an oppressive government.

    45. Re: Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I got one for ya; how 'bout it's nine of their damn business period. This is like saying all private conversations should be handed over to the govt. Fuck the fbi faggots in their ass. What I do personally or otherwise is none of those fucks business period. I could gaf if they get their way or not. I'll still tell 'em where to stick it.

    46. Re:Bad idea by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Is it ok if I have real outrage about the real issue?

      You know, where they can break into & search any VPN anywhere, without probable cause.

      BECAUSE I'M FUCKING OUTRAGED AT THAT.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    47. Re:Bad idea by JRV31 · · Score: 1

      The armed revolt begins when you have mass desertion within the military.

    48. Re: Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fucking corporation? They aren't running some Illumanti conspiracy that all the corporations are one big fucking group.

    49. Re:Bad idea by Solandri · · Score: 1

      The ability to get a warrant "without providing specific details" and the person doesn't have to be within the court's jurisdiction.

      I believe that's a mischaracterization of what's going on here. It's not that the FBI wants the warrant without having to reveal specific details that they know, it's that they don't know the specific details. Only that there's criminal activity going at that node. Likewise, it's not that they want to get a warrant for a target known to be outside the court's jurisdiction, it's that they don't know what jurisdiction the target falls within. And they don't want the warrant to retroactively be declared invalid because after serving it they discover the target was outside the court's jurisdiction.

      This is a subtle distinction I see a lot of people missing in a lot of things. Logic doesn't resolve down to everything being binary in state - true or false. It resolves down to three states - true, false, unknown/cannot be determined. (Math is the same way - that's why x/0 is undefined, not infinity.) If you assume binary logic and absolutely disallow warrants which are outside the court's jurisdiction, then yes you've eliminated the abuse of granting warrants outside a known jurisdiction. But you've also made crimes where the jurisdiction is unknown immune to warrants.

    50. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Competition breeds complexity. Hmm, imagine the digital equivalent of the Cambrian Explosion. In half a billion years we may have true human-level AI! Note: In digital evolution years. Might be 1 might be a trillion of ours. ;)

    51. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1
      "TERRORISM" or "PROTECT THE CHILDREN", still can't screaming louder than "MUH BOTTOM LINE, JOB CREATORS".

      given than 60% of spying is industrial, the government spying on one corporation on the behalf of a competitor, I'd say yeah they'd care.

    52. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1

      we are still mostly a capitalist and corporatist. But yeah, at one time, we where pretty damn close to capitalism and it didn't work out well. corporatism and little bits of socialism where thrown in because they tended to be more effective than police in containing mobs

    53. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Hint: pay attention to the second amendment. It gives you certain rights to conduct certain activities.

      "Hell, Senator, it only says people have the right to *keep* and *bear* arms... so we'll just pass a law against *firing* them!"

    54. Re: Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless it is a coup d'etat where the military stays in charge but deserts their principles.

    55. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also a bad idea because it undermines the ideals upon which this country was founded, but nobody gives a fuck about that anymore anyway.

    56. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Face it the 2nd amendment is outdated. At one time it may have made sense but it doesn't any longer. How do you expect to overthrow a modern army equipped with Tanks, Jets, and Nuclear Weapons with your puny gun?

    57. Re:Bad idea by Triklyn · · Score: 1

      because your arms will do very much against a tank...

    58. Re:Bad idea by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      You know, where they can break into & search any VPN anywhere, without probable cause.

      If you think that is the "real issue" then you are either illiterate or being deliberately obtuse. That is NOT what they are asking for. What they are asking for is the ability to search a specific node when they DO have probable cause, yet do not know the owner or location of the node.

      They are NOT asking for the ability to "search any VPN anywhere" and they are NOT asking to search "without probable cause".

      BECAUSE I'M FUCKING OUTRAGED AT THAT.

      Outrage tends to be more constructive when it is connected to reality.

    59. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most VPNs are corporate.

      I imagine corporations will fight back legally if/when their employees start getting hacked by the FBI.

      Why would your company be using an encrypted TOR VPN for business? Answer, you don't.

    60. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They would care because they don't want the FBI hacking into their employee's computers while connected to the company servers via VPN. This "caring" might be due to caring about their employees (rare but it does exist in corporations), caring about their own computer security (much more likely), or worry over a FBI VPN hack uncovering corporate wrong doing (definitely possible). Companies that rely on VPN will use their lobbying might to fight this and there are some big companies that rely on VPN. I don't see this as gaining traction.

      Then again, if the government screams "TERRORISM" or "PROTECT THE CHILDREN" loud and often enough, they've proven they can get almost anything passed. It's time someone changed the country's root passwords!

      Maybe these employees shouldn't be engaging in illegal activity from inside their network or while connecting to their employer via a VPN.

    61. Re:Bad idea by poetmatt · · Score: 1

      The only thing touting the 2nd amendment does is show how stupid you are. And we're not talking vaguely stupid, we're talking "you make tinfoil hat conspiracists sound completely normal" stupid.

      There are ways to fix things, there are responses to things, implying that you're citing the right to bear arms when it talks about a militia during times of war is absolutely bonkers.

      Please stop posting on slashdot at a minimum and maybe take a class on reading comprehension.

    62. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's, um, just as troubling as it sounds.

      Yes, it is troubling, and we should be having a rational discussion about that. Instead we have a lot of hysterical rants based on the wildly misleading headline, summary, and article, that imply that the FBI wants to "legally hack" anyone connected to TOR or a VPN. That is not at all what this is about. By trying to manufacture outrage about a phony issue, the author is obfuscating the real issue.

      Welcome to Social Media 101.

    63. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, people who commit bribery care when they get caught.

    64. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What makes you think the snooping isn't contracted out to Boeing and done from one of Boeing's offices?

    65. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, just force the feds to follow the law as it's written, which is how everything should be.
      Anything else is treason.

      So if they commit the act of treason by violating the Constitution and it's amendments, then they are due for execution as our government likes to pretend it's a time of war.

    66. Re:Bad idea by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 1

      Don't assume that anyone involved with Bitcoin since the beginning had any illusions about how it would be received by the incumbents.

      Bitcoin early adopters are more prepared for the conflict than the incumbents, because they knew a fight was coming before the incumbents knew Bitcoin existed.

    67. Re: Bad idea by xlr82xs · · Score: 1

      Sometimes, the computers are not so expensive.

    68. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you ought to take a class yourself. The second amendment states: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

      Says nothing about war, and only mentions a militia as a vague pretext for the possession of arms.

    69. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. The Whiskey Rebellion.

      While Washington put it down, the end result was Jefferson ultimately repealed the tax due to continued resistance and evasion.

    70. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's time for another revolutionary war in the USA I think.

      Posted through TOR. Yeah, come try to get me you punk-ass feds. I'll beat the shit out of you.

    71. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FBI Seeks To Legally Hack You If You're Connected To TOR Or a VPN

      Bad liability idea from the FBI should they end up hacking some fortune 100 company who could hang the FBI by the entrails in court for years.

    72. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems obvious to me but I will go ahead and point out that often you can track criminal activity back to an IP address. In a simple case, lets say you can track a bunch of scriptkiddie breakins back to IP 4.43.2.6. If that IP happens to be part of BigVpnProvider's range, all you know for sure is that you don't know where the node on the other end of the vpn is (without involving BigVpnProvider, who presumably wouldn't help any more than they have to).

      it sounds like all we are saying is they want dispensation to get a warrant to go after that IP address? If so, this seems like a bit of a non issue... at best, the IP is just zombie being run by somebody else and should be shut down anyway.

      Posting anon to avoid undoing my mods...

    73. Re:Bad idea by lgw · · Score: 1

      Way to completely miss the point.

      If the FBI can skip the warrant for anyone using VPN, and that's basically every /.er, the powers being granted are broader than a non-technical person would suspect.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    74. Re:Bad idea by mean+pun · · Score: 1

      The Revolutionary War?

      That can't be right, because it obviously predates the 2nd amendment.

    75. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Might as well go ask the crazies in the middle east that. They seem to be holding their own for the moment, despite some setbacks.

    76. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APPLE stock in '97 for $14.25

      Ah, yes. At the time Apple had $5 billion in cash which amounted to about $19 per share, which meant that at $14.25 the actual company had a negative net worth of $5 per share. But I was too broke to buy any stock. :(

    77. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      only because we aren't currently willing to glass them.

    78. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_%281946%29

    79. Re:Bad idea by ogdenk · · Score: 2

      Exactly, force the government to turn their toys on the rich, cost them money, and then you will see results. Guaranteed.

      They only pick on those without the resources to fight back..... which is most of the country now, sadly.

    80. Re:Bad idea by garyebickford · · Score: 2

      Actually the sociopaths tend to go into management, not programming. From my own experience I would say that programmers are very rarely in the psychopathy spectrum, more typically going toward the autism spectrum. I was curious as to what value psychopaths had in an evolutionary sense (both individually and in society), and I learned that they can be valuable. In an experiment with spiders, an equivalent to psychopathy was indicated as a group survival trait, as without it nobody defended the group against external enemies. In society, some level of psychopathy is to my mind almost essential to being a successful politician - imagine a President who could not lie ("No, we have no intentions of invading next week."), and truly did "feel our pain" when he ordered thousands of soldiers to kill, and die. I wouldn't want a surgeon to "feel my pain" either.

      Incidents of sociopathy/psychopathy increase from about 1% to 4% as you go up in the corporate (or government) hierarchy. (I would say the incidence among executives of big financial institutions is probably more like 20%, but that's just me.) It's also high among surgeons but not other doctors. Sociopaths are often natural leaders. In fact in that sense it is can be a positive trait. This book was recommended to me, and I coincidentally saw an article also recommending it - written by a neuroscientist who discovered in the course of his research that he had psychopathic traits: The Neuroscientist Who Discovered He Was a Psychopath.

      See also The Pros to Being a Psychopath. Quote:

      Psychopaths are assertive. Psychopaths don’t procrastinate. Psychopaths tend to focus on the positive. Psychopaths don’t take things personally; they don’t beat themselves up if things go wrong, even if they’re to blame. And they’re pretty cool under pressure. Those kinds of characteristics aren’t just important in the business arena, but also in everyday life.

      The key here is keeping it in context. Let’s think of psychopathic traits—ruthlessness, toughness, charm, focus—as the dials on a [recording] studio deck. If you were to turn all of those dials up to max, then you’re going to overload the circuit. You’re going to wind up getting 30 years inside or the electric chair or something like that. But if you have some of them up high and some of them down low, depending on the context, in certain endeavors, certain professions, you are going to be predisposed to great success. The key is to be able to turn them back down again.

      So I applied my newfound knowledge to the US Constitution. I realized that, having dealt with royal and other psychopaths and seen both their use and their risk, the founding fathers tried to construct a system that essentially pitted power-seekers (which to me is mostly psychopaths) against each other, allowing the system to make use of their talents competitively while never allowing any single one or group to take complete control - and always have a way for the system to re-stabilize away from any monopoly of power over time. This is an interesting new perspective.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    81. Re:Bad idea by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      Jefferson explicitly recommended that the government might need overthrowing occasionally.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    82. Re:Bad idea by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Sort of agree, however the reason is not that the corporations are cooperating willingly with the governments, but instead because they don't want the hassle that comes from refusing. It's time and money to mount a legal defense.

    83. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, it's not like the high-functioning sociopaths that seem so well-represented in the programmer population would be at all interested in the six-figure salaries

      True. And they don't need many smart people to herd their idiotic workforce. Take a look at how Ferret Cannon (the NSA automated hacking system) works. It took a few smart people to figure out how to get exploits purchased on the black market (which are 'payload hook ready') hooked into their exploit delivery system. Someone purchases the compatible exploits, another categorizes the exploit's tech level, another adapts it to work with their system. Then a "cyberarmy" of power-tripping idiots follows a damn flow chart that tells them which level of exploit to use against a target based on the target's technical capabilities.

      The morons select a target and press a button to hack them. The folks "hacking" you are less qualified than skiddies using automated pen testing like metasploit. It may have worked at first, but I know for a fact that due to their incompetence they frequently underestimate the technological capabilities of their targets; They don't know what to do about VMs and hardware with spoofed fingerprints (so they end up identifying and hacking into VMs instead of hardware's firmware), and wind up giving their 'enemies' their 'cyberweapons' meanwhile tipping them off to the intrusion.

      Protip: Yank the network connection to your systems and wait a little while. Do the disconnected systems' storage devices become highly active? If you were hacked by "them", this is the spyware trying to remove itself to evade detection by offline analysis. It's a simple quick-litmus test, but you'll still have to verify the infection via diff against a known good VM image. Then, simply restore the VM to it's latest known-bad state, reconnect the network, and feed the morons disinformation.

      Look, I'm not against my government, I value my country, but you can't really tell if this is a foreign intel agency or your own government hacking you (maybe "they" think you could be a valuable asset for your government). So, one might as well play it safe and fuck with "them" hard core. If you go to the FBI, they'll just stonewall you and probably refer you (or your loved ones) to a psych ward for paranoid schitsophrenia -- Regardless of whether or not you are a security researcher and carry documented proof of the intrusion -- Since that's the label they use to dissuade others from believing you, whether you're a nutter or not (and you would be incredibly enraged if you found out why the label is this particular mental disorder).

      As "they" escalate their unwarranted attack against you, simply collect and document more of their technology. Put it in an encrypted insurance file and upload it around the net as things like "Justin Beaver Discography". Use a network of human and automated Dead Man's Switches, to dissuade them from disappearing you lest the leaks begin. Protip: Encrypt the most outrageous stuff first, then place some less outrageous stuff along side that encrypted blob and encrypt them both into another blob. Repeat as needed. Now you can create a timed release of the info without relying on corrupt journalists to do it for you, just arrange to have the keys released in reverse order: Each decryption reveals another more scandalous secret and another juicy blob that needs decryption. The thing to remember here is that you don't have to worry about "them" cracking your encryption methods, or finding out what's inside via hacks, because "they" already know what you know. You encrypt the data to prevent the common citizens from peering inside, and frankly, some of the shit I've seen should not be exposed since we don't need riots right now as they'll be exacerbated by the current

    84. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good idea. It's like spear phishing with honeypots. You'll get a few good 0-days out of it if those FBI bozos are any good.

    85. Re:Bad idea by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Will you stop spouting that inane irrelevant bullshit.

      Illegal activity has fuck all to do with this attempt at legalising hacking.

    86. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck the war. Fuck the strike. I'm getting high instead. What we really need is more bread and circuses.

    87. Re:Bad idea by redmid17 · · Score: 1

      Not really. Their description in the summary is pretty spot on.

    88. Re: Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The arms aren't for the tanks. They're for the drivers. The ones who put gas in the tank's tanks, and the ones who put bullets in the bullets, etc. etc. With just one chain link in the machinery mising, a tank, jet or whatever is suddenly just a lump of fancy looking metal.

    89. Re:Bad idea by sjames · · Score: 1

      Many users of corporate VPNs are using their own PC at home. They just install the client there (which is a licensed use)

      I doubt very much the corporations would be amused if the FBI starts hacking away.

    90. Re:Bad idea by sjames · · Score: 1

      Capitalism in and of itself may not contain a moral principle (in the same way that a trig table doesn't), but as members of our society, capitalists are expected to behave morally. Capitalism is just the tool.

    91. Re:Bad idea by TwoEyedJack · · Score: 0

      Nonsense. The closest we have come to capitalism lately was under Reagan. He dramatically cut taxes, decreased the size of the federal registry of regulations was cut in half, 18 million jobs were created, household income was up nearly 30% and we enjoyed a record 92 straight months without a recession. No other economic system ever devised holds a candle to economic freedom, or what Marx called capitalism.

    92. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They would care because they don't want the FBI hacking into their employee's computers while connected to the company servers via VPN. This "caring" might be due to caring about their employees (rare but it does exist in corporations), caring about their own computer security (much more likely), or worry over a FBI VPN hack uncovering corporate wrong doing (definitely possible). Companies that rely on VPN will use their lobbying might to fight this and there are some big companies that rely on VPN. I don't see this as gaining traction.

      Then again, if the government screams "TERRORISM" or "PROTECT THE CHILDREN" loud and often enough, they've proven they can get almost anything passed. It's time someone changed the country's root passwords!

      Maybe these employees shouldn't be engaging in illegal activity from inside their network or while connecting to their employer via a VPN.

      Keep drinking that kool aid, I see it has changed you into a damn propaganda believing sheep if you honestly believe that you have to be a criminal in order to get hacked...

    93. Re:Bad idea by sjames · · Score: 1

      The Battle of Athens

    94. Re:Bad idea by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      It is clear, from the elections, that changing the politicians have little to no effect...

      Say whaa??! What 'change' are youtalking about? 95% of these bastards get reelected every time. And all these great revelations about government abuse have not changed any of that since... well, ever. Switching back and forth between republican and democrat cannot be called 'change' by any sense of the word, except for their spelling. The government is an undistorted, but maybe slightly embellished reflection of the wishes of the voters. Let's consider looking at the root of the problem, instead of the symptoms, which is all everybody is talking about here.

      What is clear from the elections is that people wake up, push a button, and go back to sleep. I'm not sure what you could expect from that, other than what we have.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    95. Re:Bad idea by tombeard · · Score: 1

      And we know they are because VPN, duh.

      --
      The reason we subjugate ourselves to law is to better procure justice. If law does not accomplish this purpose then it m
    96. Re:Bad idea by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Well, if criminal gangs (and that is the modus operandi the FBI is asking to be allowed to use) attack computer systems all over the world, this will have negative consequences for them. The term "cyber-terrorists" comes to mind.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    97. Re:Bad idea by gweihir · · Score: 2

      It is actually pretty easy to set up a fully transparent logging proxy. Just have it masquerade as an Ethernet switch, use a smart-switch that copies everything to a sniffing port, or, the really secure option, sniff passively using a classical dumb hub that is not smart enough to be hacked. I have several hubs here for Fast Ethernet that still work fine and I am not the only one. On the cheap, a physical SLIRP connection can be listened to with two serial inputs and that is totally undetectable, except for the somewhat bizarre set-up. Pretty standard RS232 cards go up to 1Mbit/s these days.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    98. Re:Bad idea by gweihir · · Score: 1

      If it is not on US soil, what they are asking to be allowed to do is basically an act of war, unless there are specific, legally valid treaties with the country the TOR client is located in in place.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    99. Re:Bad idea by gweihir · · Score: 1

      They do not even know that there is criminal activity going on. The TOR client or hidden site may well be in a country where what is done there is legal. Without knowing the location, they do not know anything that gives them the right to attack or "search". Now, intelligence agencies operate under different rules, but that is one main reason that most information they turn up cannot be used in court routinely, because it was obtained in an extra-legal fashion.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    100. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No Sh!t Sherlock! I use VPN's for business purposes continuously. I cannot access my clients without one! So, because I am using a VPN (sometimes 3 or 4 different ones every day) I am a candidate for hacking by the US Govt.? What dren! What clueless twits our government has working for it in positions of incredible power and influence. Time for a 2nd American Revolution?

    101. Re:Bad idea by erapert · · Score: 1

      Tell that to the Syrians, the Vietnamese, the Koreans, the Russians, the French ("le muskets are useless against le mighty warships of Le Rois! C'est madness to resist!").

      You have no idea how a war is fought or even what the term "Guerrilla warfare" is let alone the fact that at least half the current military would be fighting against the feds.

    102. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a relatively uninteresting corner case. What about the other 99% of the time?

      If cops kicked in the [locked, where the act of locking the door is what triggers the rules exception] doors to houses without getting warrants, and then every once in a while they found crimes happening and then got warrants, you'd still have a lot of families whose dinners were rudely interrupted, quoting the 4th Amendment.

    103. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No it's not. The purpose of the 2nd amendment is to keep the King of England out. It was put in place to address the problem of not having a standing army. Those militias were paramilitary groups that were there to serve that purpose. It also was there to address the problem of law enforcement not generally being a full time job. The villagers could be deputized without having to have a separate armory to handle it.

      Overthowing the government was at best the 3rd reason, and definitely not the main reason.

    104. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All this is going to do is lead directly to a one world government that has authority to go anywhere and do anything it pleases.
      And because it's so big an nebulous, when it vacuums you up, you'll have even less power to fight it than the poor souls in Gitmo.
      You better get off your ass and fight it now rather than trying later. It will be too late.

    105. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't there a rally of Islamists you should be attending somewhere? You know, fellow comrades in the battle against the West?

    106. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read much? The parent didn't say TOR nor did they say TorVPN.
      They clearly stated VPN which most certainly is used many companies.
      The point is valid.

    107. Re:Bad idea by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      If the FBI starts to attack Tor and VPN users, those users are going to fight back. If they are not in the US the FBI might not be able to stop them doing it either.

      All this kind of thing does is make the US a more legitimate target for cyber attacks. The NSA and GCHQ are already fair game for hacking because they try to illegally hack you, so it's just self defence.

      There isn't any part of you that thought that trying to "hack" or otherwise attack the FBI, NSA, or GCHQ for engaging in law enforcement activity might be a bad idea, is there? And I would also guess you pay no attention to the people that go to jail for overseas hacking?

      Do you harbor similar venom towards Russia or China, since they engage in similar actions? Or is all the venom directed at the US/UK/West?

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    108. Re:Bad idea by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      I'm sure Airbus cared when the GCHQ snooped on the details of a bidding process and handed over the details to Boeing.

      Probably not, since that doesn't appear to be what happened.

      Boeing Called A Target Of French Spy Effort

      The Boeing Co. was among the targets of a French government plan for a massive spying effort to learn U.S. technological secrets and trade strategies, according to classified documents.

      The plan targeted 49 high-tech companies, 24 financial institutions and six U.S. government agencies with important roles in international trade, the French documents show.

      The plan focused on research breakthroughs and marketing strategies of leading-edge U.S. aerospace and defense contractors that compete directly with French firms.

      The French also sought advance knowledge of the bargaining positions of American negotiators in trade talks involving France. . . .

      Among the most coveted U.S. secrets:

      -- Research, test results, production engineering and sales strategies for Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas. Both compete against the French-led European conglomerate Airbus Industrie.
       

      Why We Spy on Our Allies - By R. James Woolsey, ... former Director of Central Intelligence

      The European Parliament's recent report on Echelon, written by British journalist Duncan Campbell, has sparked angry accusations from continental Europe that U.S. intelligence is stealing advanced technology from European companies so that we can -- get this -- give it to American companies and help them compete. My European friends, get real. True, in a handful of areas European technology surpasses American, but, to say this as gently as I can, the number of such areas is very, very, very small. Most European technology just isn't worth our stealing.

      Why, then, have we spied on you? The answer is quite apparent from the Campbell report -- in the discussion of the only two cases in which European companies have allegedly been targets of American secret intelligence collection. Of Thomson-CSF, the report says: "The company was alleged to have bribed members of the Brazilian government selection panel." Of Airbus, it says that we found that "Airbus agents were offering bribes to a Saudi official." These facts are inevitably left out of European press reports.

      That's right, my continental friends, we have spied on you because you bribe. Your companies' products are often more costly, less technically advanced or both, than your American competitors'. As a result you bribe a lot. So complicit are your governments that in several European countries bribes still are tax-deductible.

      When we have caught you at it, you might be interested, we haven't said a word to the U.S. companies in the competition. Instead we go to the government you're bribing and tell its officials that we don't take kindly to such corruption. They often respond by giving the most meritorious bid (sometimes American, sometimes not) all or part of the contract. This upsets you, and sometimes creates recriminations between your bribers and the other country's bribees, and this occasionally becomes a public scandal. ...

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    109. Re:Bad idea by triffid_98 · · Score: 1

      The government is an undistorted, but maybe slightly embellished reflection of the wishes of the voters.

      Is it really though? When your only two choices are crap, and it comes in a choice of brown or dark brown it's really not much of a choice, and it seems perfectly reasonable for the voters not to care much. It's not as if anything substantial will change depending on which of these amoral fuckwads they vote in.

    110. Re:Bad idea by kwbauer · · Score: 1

      Way to completely miss the point. Glad AC could help you find it.

    111. Re:Bad idea by kwbauer · · Score: 1

      Summary said TOR or VPN not TOR VPN. Companies use encrypted VPN for all manner of reasons, some of which include compliance with data security laws or is it now acceptable for a corporation to pass your CC across the internet in plaintext?

    112. Re:Bad idea by Kasar · · Score: 1

      In the old Wired article about the NSA archives and eventual decryption of everything they could gather, they mentioned seeing every stock trade and business deal. Lots of insider information to be had by public employees. If they get their way as they have with server access, they could watch everything without even logging their presence, leaving no trail to explain their futures market or stock trade wizardry.

      --
      vi? Who's that?
    113. Re:Bad idea by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      When your only two choices are crap...

      That is bullshit bullshit bullshit! There are more than two choices on the ballot. And if you bother to work the primaries you can put more on (get it?). The entire problem lies with the voters and nobody else. They do every thing they can to absolve themselves of responsibility, and they sell their vote to the flashiest bullshitter that promises a pot of gold and a higher fence. Sorry, this government is their own damn fault. It's as simple as that.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    114. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They had initial success with the imac, but it wasn't obvious until the 3rd generation ipod that Apple was going to stick around.

    115. Re:Bad idea by dave420 · · Score: 1

      Seeing as the second amendment was created in 1791, I don't know what you are talking about. I suspect you don't, either ;)

    116. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The signers of the Declaration of Independence risked their necks and fought a war, which they won, for the right to found the United States. They allowed for the possibility that the people might also someday overthrow the government that they founded, but they ensured that anyone attempting this would risk no less than they did. In other words, if you're going to start a revolution you'd better be willing to stake your life on the outcome because those will indeed be the stakes, just as they were for our founders.

    117. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can anyone name a successful change of politics in US history through second-amendment means?

      How about the Battle of Athens?

      From the article: "The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused the local officials of political corruption and voter intimidation."

    118. Re:Bad idea by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      So, Airbus's reaction to this should be just to accept that anyone can eavesdrop on their VPNs? Are Boeing ok with European governments snooping on their VPNs? Maybe China should be allowed to snoop on all our communications as well. After all, more eyes means less corruption, right? And since American companies never bribe, they have nothing to hide by letting every government in the world listen in on all their internal communications.

    119. Re:Bad idea by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      What makes you think that Airbus will be involved in a criminal investigation by the FBI? Do you have some inside information there?

      As I previously documented, Boeing has already been the subject of European espionage. Does the method matter that much to you?

      I find it amusing that you don't seem to understand that Airbus, like every other important part of European technical and defense industries, is already a target of Chinese espionage, never mind Russia or Iran. The Chinese have proven very successful and stealing and commercializing secrets from many nations, and may ultimately use them against your country if they haven't already.

      Perhaps your experience is different than mine, but I doubt that relying upon hyperbole when evaluating arguments is going to produce a sound outcome. Your fancy is resulting in rubbish.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    120. Re:Bad idea by Triklyn · · Score: 1

      and you're putting the cart before the horse. you're talking of armed rebellion, when i think all we'd be seeing would be one lunatic with an AR-15 trying to shoot a fucking tank.

      really? half the military would be deserting at the drop of a hat? we should probably work on that. :) the republic comes first. before you, or me. I think the majority of americans will say, fuck everything else, we must remain united.

    121. Re:Bad idea by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      Which company is or was being spied on by whom is irrelevant. Every company should take measures to ensure that no agency can spy on them, simple as that.

    122. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1

      which is telling on how are society thinks. Its only bad if its the lower class doing it.

    123. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot "RACISM"... It's the newest one.

    124. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1

      Yes, murdered children and adults at school shootings are now simply considered an acceptable loss in the preservation of your unfettered second amendment rights. Meanwhile, first and fourth are being chipped away at constantly.

      I think its mainly because their deaths are highlighted in the media they are worth more. Here is an inconvienant truth: more people get murdered by the police than at school shootings. School shootings, while tragic are rare, isolated, and more damage is done taking away rights, more privacy and speech than is done by the shootings themselves.

      lets put some perspective: 11,000 people are murdered every year, all causes, out of 30,000 gun deaths, all causes. 40,000 die of drug related causes, 110,000 die of obesity.

      But good job standing on a media-created tragedy to push your political views on people. Its no diffrent than white supremecists pointing out everytime a black man rapes a white women or kills a random white person as the dangers of the black race.

    125. Re:Bad idea by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I use the corporate VPN to work from home. My employer considers our source code to be a competitive advantage to be kept secret from the rest of the world, and would not like the FBI to be in a position to look at it.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    126. Re:Bad idea by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The listed source is clearly biased, and I didn't dig through to see what is going on.

      I suspect that the "without providing specific details" refers to the person and physical place that is going to be searched, and that the warrant will describe a specific "place" on the internet.

      Right now, if there's suspicious activity at my house, involving my phone line, or on an IP currently assigned to my equipment, there's ways of localizing that and determining where the activity is physically. Given probable cause, the FBI knows specifically where to go and whether they're going to US territory or not.

      If there's suspicious activity at a Tor node or coming out of a VPN, it's not possible in general to know where the physical activity is, and therefore it can neither be assigned a geographic location nor determined to be under US jurisdiction. This gives the bad guys an assured place to hide (which is far from saying that only bad guys use those services), which can be a real problem. The question is whether it's legitimate to issue a warrant to intrude on such internet locations given probable cause.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    127. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I completely agree with you.

      How about this, until this happy horse shit stops, lets all boycott working for the federal government. Take a job somewhere else.

      I work as a pen tester and security analyst. For the last few years I get 5 or 6 calls a month from head hunters wanting to work directly for the government or a private contractor working for the government. I tell them that I do not perform treason against The People of this country. No way will I take your job. When being interviewed for a job one of the first questions I ask is "Do you do government contracts?" If so I say thank you very much goodbye and hang up.

      Lets also continue to heckle recruiters and inform the n00bs to stay away from these people.

      Yep rather fun to call the head hunter an enemy of The People.

      Booze Allen called once I ask them if I could Ed's old desk and they hung up. Wonder why?

      Your right let's go on strike. The men being the curitan don't have the brains to pull this off by themselves.

    128. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you really think they will stop at one particular node??? Look who we are talking about and their track record. The Bill or Rights state you MUST have specific details to get the warrent.

    129. Re:Bad idea by fxsoap · · Score: 1

      This is a serious problem. How do I hide myself without worry now?

    130. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Review the ACLU's comments, as well as those of other civil liberties groups and watchdogs, that discuss how we go from a procedural amendment to concerns over the substantive rights of innocent parties online. http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/RulesAndPolicies/rules/2014-11-Criminal-Public-Hearing-Testimony.pdf
      The article may seem extreme at first, but when you look at how the rule change could play out, there is real reason for concern. If there wasn't, the EFF, the Center for Democracy and Technology, among others, wouldn't have invested time preparing comments and fighting against the rule change proposal.

    131. Re:Bad idea by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      I only meant to imply that such law would basically require a license and key disclosure in order to setup a vpn. Your employer would have a license for this because they're a corp that can afford it.. your home vpn would require a separate license, complete with key disclosure of course.

      I never said this was a good idea. It's terrible.

    132. Re:Bad idea by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Every company should take measures to ensure that no agency can spy on them, simple as that.

      On that we can agree.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    133. Re:Bad idea by lgw · · Score: 1

      Ah, you're coming from the perspective that VPNs are actually secure against the government. I get what you were saying. You might be a bit behind on events, however.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    134. Re:Bad idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps that's the real intent of the article, to distract conversations away from the real underlying issue. Sort of like tacking a "warrantless search" rider on the back of a highway renovation bill to slide it under the door.

    135. Re:Bad idea by kestasjk · · Score: 1

      Wait till your corporations trade secrets are leaked because the FBI's collector was insecure.

      So the scenario is a someone is selling hard drugs / distributing child porn / etc from a corporate VPN? Wouldn't the FBI just ask the company to provide the logs and wouldn't the company gladly comply?

      I don't think corporate VPNs will be much affected/troubled by this.. Only the VPNs that market themselves as hiding internet users are likely to be affected I would say.

      Not saying whether that's good or bad, I've not got enough info to know. I would be interested to know why they don't want to give any details in these cases, since I can't think why it should be any more or less private than a regular wiretap (not "hack" as the title misleadingly states).

      (It's 2015 and I still need to put <br /> for newlines.. Come on guys.)

      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    136. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1
      To be pendactic, Shay's Rebellion. But your point does stand. Revolutions only work generally when a good chunk of the population accepts the revolutionaries as more legitimate as the government. All points of lack of military prowess aside, I don't see any of us getting that any time soon. Also, cost of failure, and likely of failure is extreme. We'll all be hunted men for the rest of our lives if we are lucky. Its insane enough to even suggest that the people arguing for armed rebellion at this point are most likely agent provucauters trying to get us to say and do dumb stuff so they can arrest us all, and reframe the question away from their own actions.

      I'll update my idea. Its not simply "don't work for the government", as I am not calling for a boycott on people working on health services, NOAA, simply a boycott on doing IT/Programming/any tech work for Law Enforcement, Intellegence, Defense, Corrections, as well as all private contractors and private companies that are dependant on above to function such as private prisons, and contractors.. If they feel they are so much smarter than us they need do devious stuff for our own good, they can fix their own computers. They need us, plain and simple. They don't have the expertise. Some yuppie with a $500 suit, no matter if he's the smartest suit in the world still isn't a hacker. They know this. Its obvious when General Alexander went to DEFCON. Its obvious there is a pretty big culture gap, and they have a hard time recruiting talent, because most brazen assumptions about how to find it are not just slightly off, but blatantly wrong.

      To work, we only need a slim amount of people to be active in the movement, perhaps %10, vocally agitating ideaology. The rest who are not confident enough to share their views simply need to just look for a job elsewhere, and if they have a job with said agencies, politely accept work elsewhere, and then leave, and discuss their views in private, but encouraged to talk about their politics if they feel comfortable. Even people in the military can do things like request change of MOS, or simply decide to not renew their contracts. If you program Free Software Open Source, you can simply choose not to contribute to projects sponsored by the military, or fork them and not-contribute back upstream.

      Its a reasonable plan of action, because it won't take much to make change. There is very little to loose, and only the agitators have any real risk, but the risk is slight. We can also form channels of communication, form communities based on solitarity and just talk. Big key here is solidarity.

      the cost of failure is almost none. Start this you and me, just pass it on. I am not asking you to shoot anyone, rob anyone, plant any bombs, launder money, and I won't. I simply ask for solitarity.

    137. Re:Bad idea by davydagger · · Score: 1
      if you feel comfortable doing so, start agitating, or pass on so we can turn a passive sentiment into a more active movement. fire up photoshop/gimp, create memes, and do activism so more people think like us, and articulate reasons.

      rememer, solidarity. It starts you and me, as in all movements and then it grows.

  2. Harvest Exploits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1. Run FF via TOR using valgrind.
    2. Trace data flow
    3. Harvest Exploit
    4. Harden FF
    5. Sell Exploit

    1. Re:Harvest Exploits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. Run FF via TOR using valgrind.
      2.
      3. Profit

      FTFY

    2. Re:Harvest Exploits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2) harvest exploit and sell it.

    3. Re:Harvest Exploits by xarragon · · Score: 1

      Sounds like that would infringe someones "intellectual property", and you know what happens then..

  3. "Privacy? Ain't nobody got time for that!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    4th amendment? What's that? People might be terrorists hurting children if they're behind a VPN! They must be stopped at all costs!!!1!

  4. Also if you've ever used TOR or a VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or if you know somebody who has used TOR or a VPN. Or if you know what TOR or VPN is. Or if you might know somebody who might possibly know someone else who could know what TOR or VPN is. In fact, the FBI just wants to hack you.

    1. Re:Also if you've ever used TOR or a VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, use strong, rotated encryption to thwart them from doing so. Change your keys and passphrases every 30 days or more, to the strongest that the remote system and your encryption systems will permit. It's not for them, it's for you.

  5. Please do by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

    My computer is not so well shielded against attacks. And you might want to take a good look at that "terror_cells_US.docx" file. Yes, you may have to activate macros, it has a bit of active content.

    What? Me hack the FBI? I swear, I never even thought about it. I had this proof of concept for how to infest even well guarded VM-secured analysis centers to the point of taking them offline or making them my bitch on my PC but I have no idea how it got there...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Please do by oodaloop · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I had this proof of concept for how to infest even well guarded VM-secured analysis centers to the point of taking them offline or making them my bitch on my PC

      Good luck with that. I don't know if you watched Skyfall one too many times, but all of those centers are disconnected from the internet and run on their own network, precisely for this reason.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    2. Re:Please do by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 1

      Good luck with that. I don't know if you watched Skyfall one too many times, but all of those centers are disconnected from the internet and run on their own network, precisely for this reason.

      Fairly close. Where those networks need to cross over they are protected by what the military had labeled the 10 digit interface. Some poor SOB has to read what is on screen A and type it in on screen B.

      --

      Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification

    3. Re:Please do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      .docx files don't allow macros.

    4. Re:Please do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So all we have to do is hack that SOB somehow?

    5. Re:Please do by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      Maybe that was the solution 40 years ago. I haven't seen it. There are trusted one-way links that allow movement between networks with automated filtering for questionable content. You're not going to fat-finger pictures, videos, and other non-text from one network to another, are you?

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    6. Re:Please do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But the geek in Skyfall had to plug in _two_ RJ-45s to hack the laptop! If that's not hardcore hacking, I don't know what is.

    7. Re:Please do by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      But which one was his default gateway?

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    8. Re:Please do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, if the FBI gets into your computer you can argue that if the FBI can get in, who says someone else didn't get in an and plant all that illegal stuff on your system? Who do you know the FBI didn't plant it there to frame me?

    9. Re:Please do by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      15 years ago I would have suggested a wider tinfoil hat, the one you'd have been wearing was too tight.

      Today I'm probably going to ask whether you have a spare one.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re:Please do by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Apologies for not keeping current with the lunacy that MS dubbed "file formats". But congrats on correcting the one thing in the whole sentence that was wrong and didn't matter at all.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    11. Re:Please do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Air gapping is not an end-all be-all solution to the problem. Even if the network is air gapped, at some point they will have needed an internet-connected machine to do the hacking. Then those files need to be moved into the air gapped network somehow. USB sticks make great vectors for viruses.

    12. Re:Please do by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      Hmm. Tests by a Navy cyber defense unit back around 1999 showed that the average cost of getting a poor SOB sysadmin into allowing physical access to a Fortune 500 server room was around $7000. Which ties back to an XKCD cartoon - "Let's use this $5 hammer to beat on his head until he gives us the password." So we convince poor SOB to allow us to put a tiny camera into his glasses to watch while he types.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    13. Re:Please do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you think that the centers which infect us over the network are not network attached? Or perhaps you forget that Stuxnet showed that air-gaps are just mental masturbation.

  6. Sure, you have the right to privacy, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but if you use it, that is grounds for us to take it away.

    Makes perfect sense in an inside the belt way sort of way.

  7. USPS by buback · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So the Postal service is still the most secure legally protected method for sending data. Just mail CDs.

    1. Re:USPS by alphatel · · Score: 4, Informative

      So the Postal service is still the most secure legally protected method for sending data. Just mail CDs.

      The USPS scans all mail
      The USPS monitors mail on behalf of the feds without any authorization.
      What's to stop them from opening it without a warrant? Sorry but the whole system is controlled and abused by your favorite government officials.

      Sidenote: CDs were replaced by DVDs and now Blu Rays. Just fyi if you want to send more than 700mb of crap.

      --
      When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
    2. Re:USPS by DigitalPagan · · Score: 1

      Sorry, following this logic, they can open your mail sans-warrant because the envelope prevents them from reading your letters.

    3. Re:USPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd have to be a suspect in the first place. There's too much mail to open each and every one with a disc and put it through a PC.

    4. Re:USPS by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Send everything via laser disk. That way, they don't have the hardware to scan it even if they do open it.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    5. Re:USPS by steveo777 · · Score: 1

      I was going to suggest using a box of 3.5" floppy disks as I wouldn't expect them to have the equipment to read them anymore, but then I realized this is the post office, so maybe just a DVD would be okay since they probably haven't gotten around to procuring any of those yet.

      --
      This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
    6. Re:USPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To add, for those who don't already know, US Customs opens international mail coming into the US. It marks it that it was opened, before sending it on to the recipient. That is of course, nothing suspect is contained within.

    7. Re:USPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, Oh no... they LOOKED AT THE OUTSIDE OF MY MAIL. I feel so violated.

      Both links you provided specify that the USPS photos the outside of all mail for routing purposes, and that a few times it's been useful in tracking a terrorist, like the ricin mailers.

    8. Re:USPS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both of your links refer to information that is visible on the outside of the package, so not private. Not the contents.

      Your point was ...?

  8. Locked Homes are Next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Next, I'd assume they'll be seeking to be able to enter our homes without a warrant but only if the home is locked.

    1. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by neilo_1701D · · Score: 4, Informative

      They don't need to enter your home, locked or not, anymore:

      http://www.usatoday.com/story/...

      New police radars can 'see' inside homes

      At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance.

      Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant.

      The radars work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside of a house, where they are and whether they are moving.

      Current and former federal officials say the information is critical for keeping officers safe if they need to storm buildings or rescue hostages. But privacy advocates and judges have nonetheless expressed concern about the circumstances in which law enforcement agencies may be using the radars — and the fact that they have so far done so without public scrutiny.

    2. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      To be honest, I'm fine with that one. It's only for scanning buildings before entering to serve already-valid warrants. Using it constitutes a search in and of itself and may not be done without a warrant. They're not driving down the streets scanning everybody's homes.

      Not that they wouldn't want to. They totally would. But the Supremes already put a stop to that with the ruling about the infrared cameras being used to spot grow houses.

      If the cops are already going to bust down my door (remember, they already have a valid warrant. They did not use the radar to obtain a warrant), I'd rather have them scan the place first and see that I'm sleeping in the back room and my baby crib is in the front room, so they might (just might!) be less likely to toss a flashbang in the crib.

      So, I don't really see the downside to the radar gadget.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    3. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's only for scanning buildings before entering to serve already-valid warrants.

      And what proof do you have of that? What assurances do you have they don't abuse this?

      Sorry, but assuming law enforcement gives a shit about the law, or will follow it, is now such a naive and moronic statement as to be bordering on delusional. Increasingly, law enforcement wants to get around the law and oversight, and just do whatever the hell they want.

      Which means you more or less have to assume they're going to misuse every tool in the book, and treat them like children.

      And a valid warrant? Don't make me fucking laugh. How many times have law enforcement broken into the wrong damned home and killed some poor schmuck who wasn't doing anything other than defending his home from masked assailants?

      I'm long past the point where I trust the actions, motivations, or ethics of the fucking police.

      Because apparently they either don't know the law, or don't care.

      Which is precisely why people don't trust them, and are growing hostile to them. If collectively the police don't give a shit about our rights, WTF would we give them more power with less oversight.

      Sorry, but this is bad policing by agencies who find following the law too inconvenient.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by NormalVisual · · Score: 2

      At this rate, it won't be long before a Faraday cage becomes an option for your new home.

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    5. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And then they'll outlaw that.

      Essentially anything which interferes with their ability to monitor your without restriction is now being deemed illegal.

      Soon, they'll make it illegal to have secrets in your head, and you must submit to mandatory questioning and reeducation.

      Sorry, but America has jumped the shark, and is taking down the whole world with them.

      And for some reason, people are blindly accepting this crap.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    6. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      > And what proof do you have of that? What assurances do you have they don't abuse this?

      Yup and, what evidence would exist if they did abuse it? None at all. This is something that, if they have it, the ONLY protection we have for our privacy is to hope they don't abuse it; or if they do abuse it, that they meticulously log their abuses.

      How would you ever know that a legitimate warrant was not proceeded by other scans, which were then used to manufacture a believable story with which to gain the warrant? Hell, with police actually defending the practice already as "Parallel construction", we can't really trust them at all.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    7. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Precisely. Which is why the default position for police has to be "fuck no, fuck off, we don't believe you".

      And there has to be much harsher penalties when they decide the law doesn't apply to them. Me, I'm of the opinion parallel construction should lead to dismissal, and a raft of criminal charges -- obstruction of justice, perjury, being general douchebags.

      Because if we did any of these things, we'd be charged.

      Sorry, but when your "law enfocement" can bypass the law any time they like, they're just armed thugs who can do anything they want to.

      That is not how you run a fucking free society.

      If we have to hope that the police are obeying the law .. then fuck the police, they're not doing what they're there for.

      And increasingly, since it's impossible to know which might be honest, and which are just abusing their power ... the only rational thing is to assume they're all crooked.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    8. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by jmcwork · · Score: 1

      If they could just mount that on a small EM rifle ...

    9. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      You have the same guarantee you do against any misuse of technology or procedure by the state: evidence from illegal searches is thrown out and you can sue for a violation of your civil rights. And this isn't a new thing that would have to be fought for. The Supreme Court already ruled in Kyllo vs United States that the use of thru-the-wall cameras constitutes a search, and is invalid without a warrant. This was the case about the infrared cameras used to spot grow houses. That decision covers these devices, too, and to my knowledge the use of IR cameras has not been abused since.

      Do you want to ban wiretaps because what guarantee do you have the cops aren't listening to your phone call without a warrant? Do you want to ban guns because what guarantee do you have cops won't shoot you for sport? Do you want to ban boots because what guarantee do you have cops won't kick in your door for funsies? Against all of these uses of technology you have the same protection: it's illegal to do so and you can sue them if they do.

      I know it's fun to hate on the police, but they do kind of have to serve search and arrest warrants. If they're going to search your house anyway (as authorized by same methods for determining the validity of a search we've always had) what does it matter if they're doing it with a magnifying glass or a scanning electron microscope?

      Remember, with the radar devices, we're not granting the police any new authority*. It's a new tool, but there's no new authority required to peer inside your home with a search warrant. They already have the authority to do so because of the warrant. Probable cause, sworn statements in front of a judge. The radar devices cannot be used to gather the evidence needed to get the warrant. They can only be used once the warrant is already issued via the same systems we've always had. Once the warrant is issued, I want the cops to thoroughly execute it. Do we want cops getting warrants to search the homes of people for whom probable cause for the evidence of the commission of a crime exists and then do a shitty job? Not find evidence they could have? Do we want them to not know who's inside the house hiding in the closet before they enter?

      Seems to me if they know who's in the house, and where they are in the house before they enter, the scenario you bring up about the guy getting shot is less likely to happen, as the cops would (in a good world) be less likely to engage in overwhelming force when they know there's only one guy in the house sleeping in the back room or (in the shitty world in which we live) better able to subdue the occupant quickly before he has a chance to raise a weapon to the cops.

      I guess what I'm saying is, give me the nightmare scenario that you envision use of the radar device will bring that is not already handled by current case law and procedures, and is different from the use of every other tool police have at their disposal?

      *as opposed to the subject of this article. The FBI wants authority they didn't have before, to hack your computer for using a VPN. I'm opposed to that...I'm just saying the radar devices don't confer any new authority to police.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    10. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's already illegal to fortify your home to resist swat style raids.

    11. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

      Metallic foil "radiant barrier" insulation is already a thing:

      http://www.amazon.com/EcoFoil-...

      Just make sure to cross-connect the pieces, so they form a single ground plane.

    12. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      The Supreme Court already ruled in Kyllo vs United States that use of thru-the-wall cameras constitute a search, and are invalid without a warrant. If they do this, evidence discovered in this way is inadmissible and you can sue them for a violation of your civil rights. This was the case about the infrared cameras used to spot grow houses. To my knowledge, such cameras have not been abused since, and that decision covers devices like these.

      So, already, use of radar scanners into your home without a warrant is illegal. What more do you want? You can't ban the devices...they're just a piece of technology with many uses, and are commercially available. You can't ban boots because cops might use them to kick in your door. You can say "ban cops from having them!" but you've already said you think they won't follow the rules that already exist against misuse of them, so what's to say they'd obey the ban?

      The radar devices don't grant the cops any new authority* they didn't have before. They can only use them when they have a warrant, and if they have a warrant, they're authorized to search your home. They can't use them to get a warrant...use of the device already constitutes a search. So once they're authorized by the state to search your home, what does it matter whether they use a magnifying glass or a scanning electron microscope?

      Now if you think warrants are being illegally obtained, or you don't like the laws for which the warrants are being obtained, that's a completely different matter.

      But once a valid warrant is issued, yes, we want the police to conduct a thorough search. I don't want to grant warrants to cops and then have them do a shitty job of searching. Do you? Sworn statements have been made that probable cause exists that evidence of the commission of a crime (as described by the legislative branch at the behest of the people) and an authorized member of the judicial branch has reviewed this and granted the authority to the executive branch to conduct the search. All rights of the subject of the search have been observed. At this point, why not use any evidence-collecting tools available?

      *as opposed to the topic of this article. The FBI does want new authority to hack your computer for using a VPN. I'm opposed to that. But I'm saying that's qualitatively different from using a new tool to do something they're already authorized to do anyway.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    13. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's only for scanning buildings before entering to serve already-valid warrants.

      And also, dude, look at these two people bangin', lol.

      I'd be fine with it if it'd put a stop to flashbanging babies, but it won't. It'll be abused, yet it'll be a critical part of why our police need military-grade hardware in their job that's far less dangerous than fishing for crab.

    14. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that's a lot of talk, what's your solution to policing?

      how do we stop criminals from offloading their goods? how do we stop mini-fiefdoms from popping up? gang violence?

      you want it every man for himself? no fucking thank you.

      I hear a lot about how there are all these terrible ideas. what's your solution for stopping people from setting up a fucking ASSASSINATION NETWORK?

      you know, if that's what you want. maybe you think people buying and selling murder is a very capitalist idea, and "hands off my fucking freedom, fascists."

    15. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      you want it every man for himself? no fucking thank you.

      No, not at all.

      Am I willing to live with police who will do "by any means necessary" and erode our laws and freedoms in the name of expediency? Hell no.

      If the police have to ignore the Constitution, and commit perjury (parallel construction) to "do their job" then something is seriously flawed.

      But accepting total power by the police to do anything at all they want to?? That's utterly fucking moronic.

      That's living in a police state so you can still have the illusion you're free.

      But if the police can do anything they want to, without oversight, and bypassing legal protections which have been in place for a very long time ... well, we might as well have pure anarchy.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    16. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Yes, and this shark jumping happened more than a hundred years back now. From Sherman Antitrust Act and the 'private' bank known as the Federal reserve that creates fake dollars out of thin air and IRS collecting illegal income taxes illegally and FBI and SS and Medicare and minimum wage and EPA and FDA, and departments of 'education', energy, housing, commerce and interior and more, to defaulting on the gold dollar and destroying the value of money (around the world actually, since the others were relying on the dollar to be reserve and dollar itself no longer had any backing itself once Nixon defaulted on the gold promise).

      Basically USA jumped the shark when it gave up on individual liberties and started building a gigantic government machine for the sake of propping up giant companies and the empire.

    17. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At this rate, it won't be long before a Faraday cage becomes an option for your new home.

      The forensic lab in my basement has protection from electronic eavesdropping. A short distance behind the "cage" door is another panel to reduce the likelihood of electronic eavesdropping while the main door is open during entry and exit.

    18. Re:Locked Homes are Next? by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      I read some more about these systems, and there's even less to be worried about.

      Of the devices approved by the FCC, the maximum detection range is 20m. That's 20m from the device, not 20m from the wall. Most of them require you to place the emitter/detector brick up against the wall of the building you're scanning. So you can't just drive by and scan. As I said, use of through-the-wall scanners is already illegal without a warrant, so if you catch the cops at it, enjoy collecting your sweet $1.4 million civil liberties lawsuit settlement. I should be so lucky.

      All you get from these things is blips. "There's movement 10m away, 30 degrees left." You don't get a 3d-render of everything going on in the home. Some devices are sensitive enough to spot the movement associated with breathing. Still, all you know is that there's something breathing in the house, but you have no idea what it's doing.

      So as they stand, they're illegal to use without a warrant, and impossible to use discretely for any length of time. And if the cops already have a warrant...who the hell cares that they're scanning blips through your wall? They have a warrant. 30 seconds later they're going to come through the door and see everything inside, with actual eyes.

      There are some designs coming down the pipe that claim they can be mounted on a drone and have ranges of 400m. Who knows if that will pan out or be approved. Still, it's just blips and is less useful than FLIR, which cops already have on helicopters (and probably drones). Kyllo banned indiscriminate scanning with FLIR, and that seems to have worked out fine. It didn't ban the cameras themselves. Little girl lost in the woods? Yes, please bust out the helicopter with the FLIR camera. And if you've ever watched "World's Zaniest Police Chases 27" on Fox, you've seen FLIR cameras in use during manhunts, where the carjacker running from police is tracked by the helicopter and you can see him hiding in the shed. That's all totally fine. Just don't go scanning people's homes without a warrant, and that doesn't seem to have been a problem.

      And, FLIR is passive. You wouldn't know if they were spying on you. This radar tech, which gives shittier results than FLIR, is active. It requires them to bombard you with massive amounts of EM radiation, much of which is around 5GHz, which is totally detectable by your 802.11n wireless NIC in your phone, laptop, router, etc. So all it takes is a few security-minded individuals to write a very simple program that could detect those scans to expose these unconstitutional activities and collect the settlement checks.

      The cops do plenty, plenty of horrible, invasive things with technology. This isn't one of them. Choose your battles. Let this one go, and focus on Stingray and military surplus APCs.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  9. If you put locks on your door... by JoeIsuzu83 · · Score: 2

    then the FBI should have the authority to put cameras in your house. Right?

    1. Re:If you put locks on your door... by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Only if your blinds are drawn.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    2. Re:If you put locks on your door... by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 2

      Well if your blinds are drawn then you definitely have something to hide.

    3. Re:If you put locks on your door... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      My blinds are drawn because I definitely have something to hide. And believe me, you want me to keep it hidden!

  10. Fuck You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What if retaliate by hacking them? Is that legal?

    I use VPN to watch geoblocked TV channels in the US. Sometimes when it's just for security when using hotel or café wifi. Other times it's for added security when i do online banking.

    1. Re:Fuck You by Triklyn · · Score: 1

      ... you realize that watching geoblocked TV is of questionable legality right? not saying it's particularly egregious or necessarily wrong, or that the content producer even cares, but they might wish to retain you as a customer for like, dvd sales.

    2. Re:Fuck You by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      Then you're violating copyrights, and that is worse than murder!

  11. Corporations and Companies by captnjohnny1618 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Boy, I can imagine all of the companies that have employees connect through VPNs to do confidential work will love this. I work for an internationally-based corporation that has me on a VPN before I can even BEGIN to work and I would imagine they'll be pretty pissed off if the FBI is legally hacking into their private systems.

    This is such bullshit. When are we going to get some lawmakers who actually understand the fucking technology?

    Such idiots...

    1. Re:Corporations and Companies by neilo_1701D · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When are we going to get some lawmakers who actually understand the fucking technology?

      They understand the technology well enough. It's the Constitution they're having problems understanding.

    2. Re:Corporations and Companies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's nothing about this business that implies the government doesn't understand technology. They've been peering in every single window via that whole "pen register" gambit. Now they want permission to sneak inside the houses that have the curtains drawn. That seems like they understand the technology pretty well.

    3. Re:Corporations and Companies by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      When we the people demand it.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    4. Re:Corporations and Companies by captnjohnny1618 · · Score: 1

      Hah! Sad but true.

    5. Re:Corporations and Companies by captnjohnny1618 · · Score: 1

      And people smart enough to have a clue start running. Problem is most of our ilk has better and more interesting stuff with our time and don't want to put up with clowns like these guys.

      Maybe we should make the EFF a political party as well...

    6. Re:Corporations and Companies by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2

      When are we going to get some lawmakers who actually understand the fucking technology?

      They understand the technology well enough. It's the Constitution they're having problems understanding.

      They understand the Constitution well enough. They just don't care about it all that much. After all TERRORISTS and PROTECT THE CHILDREN (and the power grabs that these words enable them to achieve) are much more important to them than a 200+ year old piece of paper.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  12. Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...just a few few days ago? How do you like him now? That's right, he's still smearing turds all over the Constitution, and having him gone will be one of the best things about Obama's terms finally ending.

    1. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      i did no such thing

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    2. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by fnj · · Score: 1

      You win some, you lose some. Mr. Holder is a lot like just about everybody else in the government. They do a lot of good and a lot of evil, and it's all mixed up together. When they say or do good things you give them credit. When they say and do evil things you lambaste them. Or would you rather not run your life by ethics and logic?

    3. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I rub turds all over my body and that seems fun. Why lambast the lowly turd?

    4. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

      Technically this is the FBI, so you should be pissed off at Comey, not Holder. Comey is officially Holder's subordinate at the DoJ, though I'm not sure how much the FBI chief really answers for.

      And you won't have to wait so long for Holder's departure; he announced his resignation months ago and Obama already tapped his replacement.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    5. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      holder will be replaced with an establishment man.

      you can NOT become a senior official unless you play ball,
      Appointees are even less required to serve the public good
      than an elected representative.

      Clinton, Bush, Romney... regardless the appointee will serve the
      establishment.

      there is no such thing as a president who does not serve power.
      All of his chosen men line up with the donors like iron filings
      near a magnet.

      want to change politics? want to influence politicians?

      fund them.

      wolf-pac.com

    6. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      Ethics and logic when making a reference to government, I see what you did there!

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    7. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      That doesn't excuse the current trends towards heavy handed abuse of liberty.

    8. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only one Obama is tapping is Reggie Love.

  13. fan hitting event on the horizon by galaad2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ALL major online email providers (google mail, yahoo, microsoft, etc.) and all major company networks work internally by using a VPN between the various locations that those companies have around the country/world... => they are going to be hacked... and this will raise an enormous shitstorm.

    --
    root@127.0.0.1
    1. Re:fan hitting event on the horizon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Big portion does, but I wouldn't go as far as to say all. MPLS and point-to-point T1 (or faster) are very common and usually they aren't encrypted.

    2. Re:fan hitting event on the horizon by ShaunC · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ALL major online email providers (google mail, yahoo, microsoft, etc.)

      That horse has already left the barn, they even poked fun at Google's internal setup with a doodle. There was no enormous shitstorm. Google responded by encrypting their internal traffic (or announcing that they did, anyway) and life went on. Millions upon millions of Americans simply don't care, and millions more actually want the government reading everyone's email because they think it protects us from them ay-rab turrists. Until the surveillance apparatus somehow fucks up football or The Voice or Pawn Stars, nobody's going to give a shit.

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    3. Re:fan hitting event on the horizon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My God. If you think the whole encrypt all the things posture taken after that particular Snowden slide was released, or that the continuing ban all the encryption hysteria from the surveillance community does not qualify for epic shitstorm status... well, I'd sure hate to share your climate.

      Even Fox News is treating this as one of the biggest ongoing news stories of the last couple years, so every unwashed rube in the country has an opinion. No biggie?

  14. work from home users by hawguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When I'm connected to my company's VPN connection, they route all of my traffic over that connection, sounds like this law is giving the feds carte blanche to hack all work-from-home users.

    1. Re:work from home users by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      That's not what's meant by VPN in this context.

      For reasons I've never been entirely clear on, a lot of commercial proxy servers market themselves as "VPN providers", I'm guessing they offer connectivity via one of the common VPN protocols, but they resemble your office VPN the same way a legitimate business resembles a "Legitimate business".

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:work from home users by prehistoricman5 · · Score: 1

      So in order to get around isps bitching about too much netflix traffic someone uses a vpn. They may very well use one of these "VPN providers" that you claim exist to carry "legitimate traffic."

      Usage of a VPN for non-business purposes doesn't automatically mean criminal activity. If the FBI knows a VPN provider is being marketed as a service for hiding criminal activity there is nothing stopping them from getting a warrant now - loosening the restrictions is just a power grab.

      --
      Fuck Beta
    3. Re:work from home users by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's not what's meant by VPN in this context.

      "context" don't make me laugh. There is no application of context to modern law. All sides take advantage. The words are stretched and the intents are ignored until the law can practically mean anything the AG wants it to mean that day. "VPN" already has plenty of interpretations in the tech world once the legal world gets hold of it, it is certain to be interpreted as just about anything that isn't a direct essentially the most direct path between hosts available using a plaintext protocol.

      If you think otherwise you are crazy, or haven't been paying attention.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    4. Re:work from home users by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      When I had a contract with a local telco I would have to use a VPN in order to get onto a network with a test switch. The problem with I had was that I lost my access to the Internet with that connection. What I ended up doing was running the VPN in a virtual machine. My software ran in the virtual machine connecting to the test switch without a problem but the rest of my computer still had access to the Internet.

      You could do the same and only your business stuff would be sent over the VPN. Of course the FBI might just listen to everything coming out of your connection instead of anything just on the VPN which would mean that this wouldn't work.

    5. Re:work from home users by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      This is a press release not a piece of legislation.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    6. Re:work from home users by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      So this raises the question, "what if I use a VPN just to route around the snooping, domain-snatching, ad-insertion and cookie shenanigans that my ISP is perpetrating?"

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    7. Re:work from home users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So this raises the question, "what if I use a VPN just to route around the snooping, domain-snatching, ad-insertion and cookie shenanigans that my ISP is perpetrating?"

      Criminal. Go To jail. Go directly to Jail. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

    8. Re:work from home users by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Different issue, but it's ultimately one of those times you recognize you're more likely to be under surveillance simply because you're doing something very similar to what a large number of other people are doing that's illegal. Not even necessarily a majority, but a large enough sub group that you'll be watched.

      Think in terms of walking through the red light district in your local city at night, or getting groceries from a convenience store you know is a front for a drug dealing syndicate.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    9. Re:work from home users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since VPNs are becoming increasingly common, and necessary for corporate access, it seems to me the better analogy would be getting on the freeway to go to work - or to drive to the grocery store. Which some states are considering as a reason for tracking cars, as electric cars become more common and the gas tax becomes less useful.

  15. God damn Bush and Cheney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Once we kick those evil Rethuglicans out of power, we'll see the Democrats restore our rights.

    Yeah, that worked out real well.

    Are we beginning to see that the problem is the government itself, and not the particular party in power?

    And are we beginning to see that giving that government more money is a really bad idea?

    1. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by NetNed · · Score: 2

      Beginning? You miss the last 15 to 20+ years or something?

    2. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      There's a difference there Bush had high profile terror attack to get the people behind him, once that happened he had carte blanche.

      With Obama's sidestepping and reinterpretation of laws and the Constitution a very dangerous precedent has been set for us.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    3. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by fnj · · Score: 1

      Having the government collect and spend more money is an empowerment. It can empower good, and it can empower evil. You might want to consider that the problem is not the government itself. The government is made up of people. That is like saying the problem is people.

      There are problems only the government can address, and you won't make any progress with those problems by strangling the government.

    4. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Are we beginning to see that the problem is the government itself, and not the particular party in power?

      If you've read so much Rand that you believe that keeping a mining company from dumping lead and arsenic into your drinking water is just as evil as illegal spying and assassinations, maybe. Cuz gubbmit.

    5. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by DarkOx · · Score: 2

      The problem is people, that is why we set a government up in the first place; primarily to protect ourselves from each other.

      So yes government is the problem. It never can be anything better than a necessary evil. It should be restricted, strangled, starved, and otherwise impeded to the point it can only barely achieve its goal of protecting people from each other, with minimal efficacy. To allow it to get any bigger or more capable than that as we have done not only invites abuse but assures it.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    6. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are we beginning to see that the problem is the government itself, and not the particular party in power?

      If you've read so much Rand that you believe that keeping a mining company from dumping lead and arsenic into your drinking water is just as evil as illegal spying and assassinations, maybe. Cuz gubbmit.

      Nice strawman. I'm sure you can find a theater where you can perform in the Wizard of Oz somewhere.

      I bet you already know the words.

      If you only had a brain...

      Do you like giving the NSA, TSA, DHS, and FBI more power? Or that you're happy with the power that they have now?

      If you don't want the government to get more power, and you don't like the amount of power it already has, please defend giving that government more money and more resources.

    7. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Large concentrations of power and wealth are the problem, not government in general. Crippling government and allowing a small percentage of private citizens to fill the vacuum would be far worse. They wouldn't have even a pretense of responsibility to the people.

    8. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      Most of what was in the Patriot Act was already in force under the War on Drugs, for use against Evil Drug Lords - wiretapping, etc. The Patriot Act just expanded those provisions into a much larger portion of society. IIRC, that is.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    9. Re:God damn Bush and Cheney by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Too busy with your tantrum to come up with a coherent response, Randian? Getting rid of government, cuz NSA, is as sensible as getting rid of all businesses, cuz Enron.

      Or as asinine.

  16. As always, dick measuring between agencies by Trachman · · Score: 3, Informative

    NSA and others do it and will do it no matter what the law says, while their dime eyed lawyers continue telling that they are defending our liberties. FBI was also doing it, but now that the discussion is public, there are same voices, probably in-house lawyers, who foresee a case in the future where the litigation is lost if FBI will continue lying using the paralel construction, like they (and all others) always did.

    So now they want to legitimize something that is not legitimizable.

    1. Re:As always, dick measuring between agencies by geekmux · · Score: 0

      NSA and others do it and will do it no matter what the law says, while their dime eyed lawyers continue telling that they are defending our liberties. FBI was also doing it, but now that the discussion is public, there are same voices, probably in-house lawyers, who foresee a case in the future where the litigation is lost if FBI will continue lying using the paralel construction, like they (and all others) always did.

      So now they want to legitimize something that is not legitimizable.

      The largest outstanding question at this point is why do they even bother asking.

      They're raping citizens Rights.

      And no there is no other more accurate word to describe an action that was not asked for nor is able to be refused.

      Rape. I suggest we start using this word in the various courtrooms. And often.

      Maybe, just maybe it will short-circuit the automated excu...er, I mean response to the new-and-improved War on Terror being the reason for all this.

  17. If everybody would be sending CD's by Trachman · · Score: 1

    That would be a waste of taxpayers money. Multiple jobs would need to be created to open the mail and to manually download the data.

    1. Re:If everybody would be sending CD's by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1, Troll

      That's what the government is in business for, "wasting taxpayers money" at one time they were in the business of governing.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    2. Re:If everybody would be sending CD's by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 2

      At one time, they were in the business of teaching grammar.

    3. Re:If everybody would be sending CD's by garyebickford · · Score: 1

      That is the essential difference between the Stasi (East German Secret Police) and what some in the NSA want to do. The Stasi had to work with paper and actual human informants.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
  18. Hack my VPN? by MobSwatter · · Score: 1

    I use two factor auth'd VPN with Radius to access customer sites. I'd better warn my customers that the FBI is plotting to steal their credit card txn data. There could be no other explanation for this.

  19. ...legally? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Legality has never matters to the FBI/CIA/NSA before. They typically operate above the law.

  20. Just cause needed by ITRambo · · Score: 1

    Without just cause the FBI will become as contemptible as the former KGB, which I would expect to snoop without reason other than to intimidate and dig up dirt on people. USA: stop this please. You exist for the people, not the other way around.

    1. Re:Just cause needed by dablow · · Score: 1

      Lol USGOV never existed for the people.....

      And the FBI was worse than the KGB...they just had a better PR firm!

    2. Re:Just cause needed by neilo_1701D · · Score: 1

      USA: stop this please. You exist for the people, not the other way around.

      Republics exist for the people (res publica = public affairs). Empires tend towards having the people the subjects of the Emperor.

      Is the USA a republic or an empire?

    3. Re:Just cause needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Worse than the KGB.

      disclaimer: All those dead Russians notwithstanding.

    4. Re:Just cause needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Without just cause the FBI will become as contemptible as the former KGB, which I would expect to snoop without reason other than to intimidate and dig up dirt on people.

      Consider the USA trained SAVAK, who arrested people for:

      -- complaining busses were not on time
      -- picking up a flyer of questionable content (not protesting, no call for any action, merely picking up a piece of paper)

      Consider that was ~60 years ago, and black budgets have only grown.

      Consider the FBI and CIA have been rumoured to hire ex-KGB officers -- google if you like.

      Consider Richard Nixon ordered the CIA to halt the FBI form investigating money laundering in Mexico (you see, people in power like untraceable funds for their black operations)...and that was 35-45 years ago?

      Is the USA a republic or an empire?

      It was a republic, but that is long gone. We are more or less "slave to the U.N. ... except when we don't feel like it" at all levels. We are a "republic" when it suits empire-building...it is mostly just a matter of PR, really.

  21. tsk, tsk. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We had VPN at work with XP. W7 could be configured but the manual took some time to appear -- of course, knowledgeable folks will find a way, but this is about everyone being able to use it. Because it's useful.

    IT people got shy, because it's hard to make it secure. And we deal with privacy responsibilities.

    So VPN became progressively harder. Now, people will fret over this.

    It's not like if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.

    Quite the opposite: if you are not doing anything wrong, you must also take care not to be spied by NSA -- because that would be negligent.

  22. Ya know, FBI by russotto · · Score: 1

    That bit about "particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized" isn't just a matter of criminal procedure. It actually comes from the constitution. Really -- check the restroom at headquarters, it's right there on the toilet paper.

    1. Re:Ya know, FBI by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      OK, now define "place". I can refer to "someplace on the internet" without implying a physical location. I'm using the same sort of interpretation that gives bloggers rights, because blogging is considered free speech or freedom of the press, despite the word "blog" appearing nowhere in the First Amendment, no speech being involved (except for people who use text-to-speech interpreters), and no printing press being involved.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  23. Crap privacy by noshellswill · · Score: 0

    Ya know, when I take a crap I expect privacy. Anyone who cuts an eyewhole in my bathroom wall ... and peeks ... can expect me to  locate, retrieve, and drive a  long sharp ladies hat-pin thru that pervoz peek-a-boo eyewhole.  OhmeOHMy that's gonna hurt.  In such  manner I  intend to defend basic personal privacy; if asked I  suggest  analogous behavior to all citizens for if all citizens behave like this the 2-eyed pervo population goes way-down way-fast.  Does anyone need a postcard ? 

  24. VPN hack Great for travellers by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 2

    So, you use a VPN to avoid getting hacked by your local situation, then get hacked by your own government.

    1. Re:VPN hack Great for travellers by Kabukiwookie · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, if you get hacked, the US government will always trace it back to 'North Korea' or 'Cyber ISIL'.

      --
      The mountains of madness have many little plateaus of sanity - Terry Pratchett.
  25. "as long as computer hidden behind technical tool" by JoeyRox · · Score: 1

    By that reasoning they can justify a search warrant if I close the drapes in my house.

  26. If you put locks on your door... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but wouldn't getting vpn rights grant access to the plethora of cameras already in your home. Wait, don't they already have access to all of them?

  27. Mix it up by BobSwi · · Score: 1

    I'm going to start using punch cards, along with a Live USB distro

    1. Re:Mix it up by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      Punch cards won't protect you. Of all the places that would still be making use of them the US federal government seems the most likely.

      --
      Time to offend someone
  28. Phase 1 by frovingslosh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is just Phase 1. Once this is in place then in Phase 2 if you ever use any service that uses https then you must be trying to hide something and so they can take all of your data. Same for any other use of encryption, you might be a criminal or terrorist hiding something. And if you ever send anything through the mail in a sealed envelope, well you must be a criminal trying to hide stuff.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:Phase 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You realize, of course, that they're already doing all of that, right?

      PRISM's Room 641A was around before 9/11. The PATRIOT Act didn't create new powers, it just legalized the existing warrantless practices and retroactively granted immunity for their prior use. If there is legislation now, it's to legalize shit they already do.

      Your concern isn't flawed because it's a slippery slope fallacy, it's flawed because we've already bottomed out.

    2. Re:Phase 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Encryption is still your best friend.

      Im no TOR expert so i wont comment on it but a good VPN (from a corp outside the USA is a good place to start)
      and full disc encryption is good too (AES 256 or more is still very secure if not completely unbreakable)

      I pay for a Buisness class Internet connection 100Mb/s and use a VPN (http://btguard.com/)

      I am using full disc encryption 2048 bit (64 character passwords) with triple cascadeing ciphers and hidden volumes.

      I sit here with my desktop facing backwards so i can rip the power cord out if anyone kicks my door in.

      Paranoia can keep you alive. =)

      (i know some people dont like wikipedia but it still has some accurate info depending on the article)

      so here read a little.

      SECURITY:
      Until May 2009, the only successful published attacks against the full AES were side-channel attacks on some specific implementations. The National Security Agency (NSA) reviewed all the AES finalists, including Rijndael, and stated that all of them were secure enough for U.S. Government non-classified data. In June 2003, the U.S. Government announced that AES could be used to protect classified information:

      The design and strength of all key lengths of the AES algorithm (i.e., 128, 192 and 256) are sufficient to protect classified information up to the SECRET level. TOP SECRET information will require use of either the 192 or 256 key lengths. The implementation of AES in products intended to protect national security systems and/or information must be reviewed and certified by NSA prior to their acquisition and use.

      AES has 10 rounds for 128-bit keys, 12 rounds for 192-bit keys, and 14 rounds for 256-bit keys. By 2006, the best known attacks were on 7 rounds for 128-bit keys, 8 rounds for 192-bit keys, and 9 rounds for 256-bit keys.

      MOST SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT:
      The first key-recovery attacks on full AES were due to Andrey Bogdanov, Dmitry Khovratovich, and Christian Rechberger, and were published in 2011. The attack is a biclique attack and is faster than brute force by a factor of about four. It requires 2126.1 operations to recover an AES-128 key. For AES-192 and AES-256, 2189.7 and 2254.4 operations are needed, respectively. This is a very small gain, as a 126-bit key (instead of 128-bits) would still take billions of years. Also, the authors calculate the best attack using their technique on AES with a 128 bit key requires storing 288 bits of data. That works out to about 38 trillion terabytes of data, which is more than all the data stored on all the computers on the planet. As such this is a theoretical attack that has no practical implication on AES security.

      According to the Snowden documents, NSA is doing research on whether a cryptographic attack based on tau statistic may help to break AES.

      As for now, there are no known practical attacks that would allow anyone to read correctly implemented AES encrypted data.

  29. If you want the moon, ask for the stars by SailorSpork · · Score: 2

    They seem to be asking for all of this, but I wonder which subset of these they actually expect to get. If they ask for 10 unreasonable things but only get one, will we celebrate, or mourn the loss of one more civil right to privacy?

  30. Mantra by NetNed · · Score: 1

    It's the same thing we always hear all the time. The lines that are an attempt to fool the general public. It goes "We need "x" because we can't do our job, and if we can't do our job your "(family, kids, wife, money, future, home, the earth)" are all in danger, so do it for them!"

    1. Re:Mantra by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      I agree. The pathetic thing is that they keep trying to frame these requests as "we really want to do our job well but can't because of X." All I hear is "Doing our job with X in place is too haaard!" in the same whiny voice a kid might use if asked to take out the garbage instead of playing video games. These attempts aren't "we can't do our job" requests, but attempts to change the system - which was put in place to prevent abuses - because they're just too lazy to work within the system the way they've done for a long time.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:Mantra by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Sure, but this should be pretty easy for them to get. I've seen headlines from the Silk Road case that the judge and jury are confused by the (and I quote) "mumbo jumbo" about Tor, and basically have no understanding of what it is.

      Public: "The FBI wants to hack Tor? What's that?"
      Feds: "It's the secret system pedophiles, drug dealers, and terrorists (also drug dealing, terrorist pedophiles) use."
      Public: "Oh okay."

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  31. Re:Shine the light... by epyT-R · · Score: 1

    More wannabe tyrants cheering on the big tyrant..

  32. Seeking privacy is now considered evidence? by Gliscameria · · Score: 1

    So we should expect no knock raids if we close our blinds?

    --
    X
  33. The bank I work for would just love this. by Jaywalk · · Score: 2

    The specific rule the FBI is targeting outlines the terms for obtaining a search warrant. It's called Federal Rule 41(b), and the requested change would allow law enforcement to obtain a warrant to search electronic data without providing any specific details as long as the target computer location has been hidden through a technical tool like Tor or a virtual private network.

    Everything my employer does is via a VPN. This little change would be carte blanche for virtually all corporate communications within the United States. Even the company's internal networks would be laid bare if they're remotely accessible. The opportunities for abuse are staggering.

    --
    ===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
    1. Re:The bank I work for would just love this. by tekrat · · Score: 1

      Apparently; the FBI wants their cut of the insider trading and rampant fraud happening at most banks.

      --
      If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
    2. Re:The bank I work for would just love this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You think our current NSA/FBI aren't already able to strip back the VPN SSL protections and get at the traffic coming out of the endpoints in the clear already? They've been doing it for years, and have even bragged about it.

  34. Give it 3-5 years. by kwiecmmm · · Score: 2

    The first arrest that happens due to this, will result in appeals that will eventually get this rule overturned as unconstitutional.

    This is no different than saying your neighbor committed a crime so we want to search your house as well due to proximity to him. A decent lawyer will be able to make the argument that just because you are on a TOR or a VPN does not mean you are doing something illegal.

    TOR was created as a method to allow people in oppressed countries to speak freely, it is funny that the country that funded this is now going to be one of those oppressed countries.

    1. Re:Give it 3-5 years. by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      Who is going to overturn it? A bunch of judges that have never touched a computer in their lives?

    2. Re:Give it 3-5 years. by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's what they said about the shit in the patriot act.

    3. Re:Give it 3-5 years. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It won't get overturned, because the evidence will be kept secret, "for National Security", and under FISA lock and key. It's a diode, a one-way circuit. They're allowed to pull information in to incriminate/incarcerate you, but you're not allowed to even know what it is you're being accused of, let alone stamped guilty for.

  35. You guys are ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A *tiny* fraction of computer users will do *anything at all* to counter this searching. The overwhelming majority of voters don't even understand what this means, and inasmuch as they have a glimmer of an understanding, they think "so the FBI can see what I am doing when I remote in to work from home? So what? They will just get bored."

    There won't be open cyber warfare between "the people" and "the government." There won't be a widespread refusal to work for the government on the part of geeks everywhere. This is all jejune nonsense, and a very good example of why geeks in general are very bad at politics (and have basically no representation in politics).

    If you care about this issue, the absolute best thing you can do is give money (real tangible economic power) to the lobbies that are fighting it (EFF, ACLU, etc).

    And don't forget that you owe Snowden a favor given all he has sacrificed for you. The very very least you could do for him is Sign the ACLU's petition to grant him Clemency (and maybe go the extra mile and pass that link along).

    1. Re:You guys are ridiculous by davydagger · · Score: 2
      only a tiny fraction of computer users are talented enough to get a job. The ones that are really good with computers tend to be more aware of rights. Awareness would make this work, but in history, strikes, slowdowns, etc... have been very effective.

      The feds already have a hard time, many geeks are already more aware, intellegent and active than the typical person, and more prone to action as well. It really would not take much to make a point. Many of them are also involved activities that disqualify them from federal service anyhow, and it wouldn't take much agitating to open up old wounds the feds try and closing by loosening restrictions.

      If you care about this issue, the absolute best thing you can do is give money.... to the lobbies...

      See thats the hipster problem is thinking like that, and it can do anything. If you can get enough people to donate, you can make an effective boycott. This is why hipsters fail at politics and have next to zero clout, but instead make a fuckton of noise and no one cares. This is also why when some dumb hipster comes into a webforums asking for support people laugh at them, and the reason why no one really gives a fuck about turning out the polls, and people think you are just a bunch of shills. Hipsters like to pretend they have political clout, but all they are foot soliders for lobbyists. Its very obvious and very showing to everyone but themselves. They don't have power, power has them. You demand inaction and blind support in lobbies, even ones I agree with is a terrible idea. I do agree donating to the ALCU and EFF is a good, but its not enough.

      In short, a boycott will be effective if you want it to be effective. In addition to boycotting you can also support the EFF and ALCU, I don't see why you can't do both. At very least I call on the EFF and ALCU to donate some lawyers to people who plan civil disobediance against federal government shenanigans. I'm proud to support both the EFF and ALCU, and if you truely support the mission of both you should support my plan.

      My idea doesn't require a ton of people, and if it fails the worst that happens is nothing. You have nothing to loose, and everything to gain in making a few friends and perhaps steering them into activism with the EFF, ALCU and other such groups.

    2. Re:You guys are ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you should study a little political science before you attempt to direct a group towards a political end.

      Your "plan" of encouraging a labor boycott is doomed. You don't know what you are doing. You have no idea how to convince people to participate in your plan. You have no means of getting your ideas on people's minds. You are like a newborn child attempting to build a car. You are so lacking in knowledge of the most basic principles of the enterprise that you can't even realize how ridiculous you sound.

      I guarantee that once you have educated yourself, you will be embarrassed by your post.

    3. Re:You guys are ridiculous by davydagger · · Score: 1
      then mabey you could help?

      What is the worst that could happen?

      Nothing. Nothing happening is the worst that could happen. If you truely support Snowden, then support the type of activism he did. We have information on the government because he acted. More people need to act.

  36. Wow ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So it's true ... when they outlaw privacy, only criminals will have privacy.

    And then there's this:

    Furthermore, the provision would allow investigators to seize electronically stored information regardless of whether that information is stored inside or outside the court's jurisdiction.

    We want extraterritorial laws, with no judicial oversight.

    I'm sorry, but can the rest of the world decree that FBI agents should all be shot on sight as enemies of basic civil rights? The argument is about equally stupid as what the FBI claim.

    America, you have a problem, and you are making it the problem of everyone on the planet.

    Land of the free and home of the brave? You have to be fucking kidding us.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Wow ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      can the rest of the world decree that FBI agents should all be shot on sight as enemies of basic civil rights?

      No, because countries with basic civil rights don't just go around shooting people on sight. Sorry.

    2. Re:Wow ... by jdavidb · · Score: 1

      America, you have a problem, and you are making it the problem of everyone on the planet.

      Yes, we do. Please be sure not to equate us with our government, though.

      Land of the free and home of the brave? You have to be fucking kidding us.

      It's a big not-so-funny joke to us, too. :(

    3. Re:Wow ... by steelfood · · Score: 1

      Land of the free and home of the brave? You have to be fucking kidding us.

      You bought into that pile of marketing dog shit?

      Reality is closer to land of the diminishingly-freer, home of the cowardly and ignorant but loud.

      We're still freer than most countries (for example, we have hate crime laws, but no hate speech laws) and without a strong American traditional culture, more tolerant, which is freedom in a different sense. But we're not that much freer, and we're losing what we have little by little.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    4. Re:Wow ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US of A does have a colossal problem. Viewed from the outside (i.e. another country) it actually appears that the government intelligence agencies are attempting to push the government into waging full-on undeclared electronic war on (a) its own entire (and 100% mistrusted!) computer-using population and (b) everyone else in the wider world who uses a computer. The Gov. Agencies seem to be arguing that sitting monitoring the world's computer traffic (and developing algorithms to do this on autopilot) is a darn sight easier for them than actually sending their agents out into the real world to conduct old-fashioned gumshoe detective work. No longer "The Land of the Free". Now "The Land of the Electronic Handcuffs!"

  37. FBI = Crooked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just cant believe how crooked the FBI and its agents have become. There is nothing special about them anymore.

  38. Bad Guys Aren't Stupid by BoRegardless · · Score: 1

    Some already avoid email & might use pictures w/steganography.

    1. Re:Bad Guys Aren't Stupid by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      If they were actually smart they would just use TrueCrypt containers. The computation necessary to break that should make it secure enough (heat death of the universe provided TrueCrypt was implemented properly). Then for some shits and giggles just to make the feds waste a bunch of resources make some TrueCrypt containers filled with cat pictures, the text of the US constitution, the Declaration of Independence, goatse, etc. or just dump out a bunch of data from /dev/random or random.org to a file.

      --
      Time to offend someone
  39. Meme? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Run FF via TOR using valgrind.
    2. Trace data flow
    3. Harvest Exploit
    4. Harden FF
    5. Sell Exploit

    There's no profit in it.

  40. Contribute more to the Tor project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More open source developers should join working on Tor. I looked at its code and it can definitely use some cleaning up. With more people working on it, we'll have more github forks and versions. Perhaps features like randomly faking Internet traffic and honeypots will be made? I was for example thinking of making a feature where two Tor instances do the exact same request and then let them compare the results upfront feeding it to the browser. If they differ in malicious way, tell the user's browser about the differences and allow browser plugins to visualize the diff.

  41. Let's see if I got this right by real+gumby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The US government funded Tor development and encourages its use as a way to avoid repressive governments and then considers its use in the US to be a suspcious act.

    The irony, it burns!

    1. Re:Let's see if I got this right by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Those repressive governments consider it to be suspicious as well. Go figure.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    2. Re:Let's see if I got this right by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      The part of government trying to overthrow repressive governments invents it. Different part of the government, different goals.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    3. Re:Let's see if I got this right by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Yes the anonymity and privacy part is for well funded NGO's, journalists and activists to help with Colour revolutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... in other parts of the world.
      The use of the same networks now has a legal backing to remove anonymity and privacy. Anonymity is removed by tracking to uncover the original ip on any type of network used.
      Privacy is removed by using malware to capture the plain text of any message as entered.
      The tracking of all whistleblowers as they try to contact any journalist would now be legal. The journalist would be bait, all press websites nothing more than tracking websites.
      Offer a journalist a news story, get it published, get a court order as the story was real, track everyone who then makes contact.
      A well published journalist is now a false-front website for the next few years. From parallel construction to just construction.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:Let's see if I got this right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No irony at all. The US government is repressive to the world population and its own people. The founding fathers had a word for it,,,, tyranny,,, and had a lot to say about it.

  42. 4th amendment requires specifics by MobyDisk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From the article:

    ...without providing any specific details as long as the target computer location has been hidden through a technical tool like Tor or a virtual private network. It would also allow nonspecific search warrants...

    Text of the 4th amendment to the constitution:

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

    The article is light on details, but if it is accurate, this looks like a straightforward violation of the 4th amendment. The devil is always in the details though. The article may be an oversimplification.

    1. Re:4th amendment requires specifics by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Unless you are like our government and say that VPN or Tor = probable cause.

    2. Re:4th amendment requires specifics by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

      I don't think the term "probable cause" means "can conduct a search without a warrant." Rather, "probable cause" is justification for a warrant to be issued. But I think people get confused on this point because the courts have made exceptions for motor vehicles and that gets mixed up with "probable cause."

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...

    3. Re:4th amendment requires specifics by omnichad · · Score: 1

      They are still getting warrants. Just non-specific ones. In other words, the use of encryption at all is an assumption of illegal activity and worthy of a warrant. Which is completely invalid, of course.

      The thing to be searched is specified (at a John/Jane Doe level - which case law supports) so I don't see why it's a 4th amendment violation on those grounds. The "why" is non-specific but encryption alone is being called probable cause. That's the violation.

    4. Re:4th amendment requires specifics by MobyDisk · · Score: 1

      Ahhh, I get it. Thanks.

  43. If they can so can others by ic3m4n1 · · Score: 1

    What they are saying is that it is possible by some technical means to hack secure networks.
    How long till others figure this out and exploits are in wild.

    It would be interesting to see how banks and online businesses(Visa, Mastercards, etc) explain how their networks are secure if some teen can snoop into it from his basement and show off his h33t h4x0r skills.

    1. Re:If they can so can others by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      h33t? You must mean 1337 (Elite -> leet -> 1337).

  44. Politics by Libertarian_Geek · · Score: 1

    So, if an opposing campaign uses VPN to secure their communications, it makes them a target by the sitting executive branch party.
    Guess we won't hear anything about this on the SOTU.

    --

    www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights

    www.fairtax.org
  45. Here is the solution by davydagger · · Score: 1
    Here is the solution. Before someone tries doing anything dumb, aggressive, that would hardly be noticed and not be effective, lets do something that will truley kick 'em in the pants:

    go on strike!

    They need us more than we need them. Its aparant. I am sick of being viewed as a terrorist when they need people like us to perpetrate their new digital wars. This is the last straw that broke the camel's back. I am sick of media propaganda making us all out to be anti-social terrorists. I am sick of being view as "crazy". I am sick of this fucking bullshit, while other obvious fuck ups in mainstream society get a pass. I am sick of being a perminant suspect, especially when my actions are what makes me valuable to the same people after me.

    The plan:
    1. Stop working for them. Don't get a job doing computers for LE, Corrections, Intellegence, or Military
    2. Don't give them advice and recommendations, further than "stop treating me like a terrorist". Stop giving them recommendations that would help them against their other victims
    3. If someone asks you to put a backdoor in any piece of hardware or software just say no, and go to the press/wikileaks
    4. Don't be affraid to leak pertinant evidence of their otherwise wrongdoing to the press/leaks organization. They make no bones about investigating you or smearing you as a terrorist/mental patient/criminal. Don't be affraid to do the same to them
    5. Communicate to your fellow techies what we are doing and why. Heckle recruiters and warn n00bs to try and get other people to do the same.
    6. Co-operate as little allowed by law with any of the organizations mentioned in point one. If you can afford to do so, commit civil disobediance, make sure you have a lawyer handy.

    7. Stand in solidarity with everyone else getting picked on unfairly. Stop the bullying by saying "I simply won't believe their crap", and tell other people how you feel.

    Lets stand united and do this.

  46. Too funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This assumes FBI *can* hack, just like how some people falsely assume NSA can see everything.

    when in reality they are both useless and incapable of doing anything.

  47. What happened to the constitution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So where exactly do they find this right in the constitution?

    As a warrant must specify exactly the place and thing being searched for and must be approved by a Judge.

    Clearly a broad power grab like this violates all intents and purposes of the law. /soapbox

  48. Google Mail Needs Random Sigs by Maltheus · · Score: 1

    What's needed is for a popular news client to have the option of automatically adding a random .sig to every e-mail like:

    53dd73cb10a1540c9d3adb36fd8cd0d8f5b2ef736a4a23a07d6d2a80c88e907f

    Could be random, could be encrypted. The police state types would be overwhelmed in no time.

  49. Baseless fearmongering at its finest by Tuckdogg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Articles like this often get written because the author doesn't really understand the law, and rather than really trying to understand what's going on they just guess. The claims made in this article are so wildly off-base, however, that it makes me question whether the author is just trolling people.

    Contrary to what the article suggests, Federal Criminal Rule 41(b) does not have a thing to do with what evidence law enforcement agencies are required to show to get a warrant, nor does it authorize the FBI (or anyone else) to get any particular type of warrant. Rule 41(b) is about VENUE; e.g., if you've already got enough evidence to get a search warrant, what judge (in what federal District) is the judge that you are supposed to present that evidence to?

    You can read Rule 41(b) here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/rul...

    The basic rule it sets out is that, when you want a warrant, you ask a judge located within the District where the person/property you want to search is located. There are exceptions to that basic rule, much like any other rule, because it's not always a simple matter of "X is located here." Sometimes things are located across several different Districts, sometimes they're mobile and can be easily moved to another District, etc. This is why there are currently 5 subsections to 41(b), each dealing with slightly different semi-unusual factual scenarios. At the end of the day, each exception is there for a very simple reason: to clearly and unambiguously tell federal law enforcement agencies how to identify the judge they are supposed to go to if they want to get a search warrant.

    The proposal for changing Rule 41(b) is located here: http://justsecurity.org/wp-con...

    What the DOJ is asking for is a scenario not currently covered by Rule 41(b). That being...what happens if you are dealing with someone you know to have committed a crime, you have enough evidence to get a search warrant, but the perpetrator of the crime is using some sort of technological means (like encryption, IP masking, etc.) to prevent you from finding the exact physical location of whatever you want to search? As of right now, it is not clear who the right judge would be to issue that warrant. The only thing the proposal would do is say that, if you can't identify the physical location of the computer to be searched (and therefore do not know which federal District it's located in), then you can go get your warrant from a judge in the District where the target of the crime was located.

    Example: I'm an evil h@xx3r, and I hack some computers at the GooglePlex. I have masked my IP address, so the FBI does not know exactly where I'm at. Under current Rule 41(b), it's not clear who the right judge would be to try to get a warrant from. Under "new" Rule 41(b), they can go to a judge in California since that's where the GooglePlex is located.

    That's literally the only thing this proposal would change. It says nothing about VPNs or TOR networks. It does not give the FBI (or any other law enforcement agency) the authority to hack your computer or your phone whenever they want. It doesn't even grant them the authority to do that with a warrant, because they already have the ability to do that with a warrant. It also doesn't say anything about how much evidence they have to present to get the warrant, because Rule 41(b) has nothing to do with that. The standards for search warrants are exactly the same as they have been for years; this proposal would only clarify who the right judge is to issue the warrant.

    I don't know a whole heck of a lot about the "FEE" is, but if this article is representative of their work and/or legal abilities then color me unimpressed.

    --
    Tuck
    Tuck's Journal.
    1. Re:Baseless fearmongering at its finest by dcollins117 · · Score: 1

      Don't be a spoilsport. We were having a lot of fun until you showed up with your actual facts and rational explanations.

    2. Re:Baseless fearmongering at its finest by h4x0t · · Score: 1

      Thanks, Tuck. TFA was pretty devoid of source material.

    3. Re:Baseless fearmongering at its finest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for bringing rationality to this discussion.

  50. What you know is not what is going to bite you ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Most people seem to have skipped this gem:

    it would also allow nonspecific search warrants where computers have been intentionally damaged (such as through botnets, but also through common malware and viruses)

    That, in effect, means that pretty-much every computer can be entered. Worse, as the user is mostly unaware of any malware or viri on his computer (duh!), he can be searched without knowing/realizing why that might be.

    When this relaxing of permission gets granted it would also be quite interresting to see what kind of programs get classified as "viri", or even easier "malware". I get the feeling that than anyone who installs some tools or game and gets a toolbar installed will be easy prey for "the buro" ...

  51. Fuck Them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stock up on guns, people.
    You're going to need them.

  52. The FBI is NOT your friend. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The FBI is a tool those in power use to remain in power.

    If you're in power they might be your buddies, otherwise they
    are anything but. Disregard this reality at your own peril.

  53. certainly I expect the blowback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    imagine engineers at home doing VPN to try and restore, for instance, FAA and 911 trunk circuits. the carriers will not want FBI checking out the internals of the networks. that is prohibited by law.

    1. Re:certainly I expect the blowback by ron_ivi · · Score: 1

      that is prohibited by law

      s/is/was/

      This proposed law changes that.

    2. Re:certainly I expect the blowback by JRV31 · · Score: 1

      Since when do governments follow laws? Laws exist just to keep us common folk in line. And the powers that be in power.

    3. Re:certainly I expect the blowback by kwbauer · · Score: 1

      No, this changes a regulation. Contrary to popular belief, POTUS cannot change the law.

  54. Treason is one reason for the existence of 2nd by mpercy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ever heard of that treasonous document that starts out "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."?

    It goes on to say: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

    The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the people who fought for the Colonies independence were committing treason.

    Indeed, the 2nd Amendment self-state purpose is to allow the citizens to preserve their freedom from a despotic federal government that was being formed by the same document. Rather, the government being formed could become despotic and need to be thrown off, and the the 2nd provides the basis for that.

    This is pretty clear from various Founder's explanations, e.g. Alexander Hamliton "[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude[, ] that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens."

    The Framers had *just* completed an armed (and treasonous) insurrection of their own, and were keenly aware of the fact that any government they might form could (and probably would) become despotic. The 2nd at least put a floor under the people's ability to fight back against that potential.

    1. Re:Treason is one reason for the existence of 2nd by harperska · · Score: 2

      First off, the Declaration of Independence was a call to arms, not a legally binding precedent. Only the Constitution can be used as the source of what is considered legal. Second, Using the second amendment to rationalize treason is absurd. The second amendment and the treason clauses are both within the framework of the US government. If you are planning on using the Declaration of Independence as precedent, you are talking about overthrowing the US government, which means throwing out the Constitution and starting over. So if you consider what the Constitution has to say about treason to be moot, you likewise must consider what the Constitution has to say about bearing arms to be moot as well, as you are declaring the Declaration of Independence to supersede the Constitution in its entirety.

    2. Re:Treason is one reason for the existence of 2nd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alas, any action that we might take as citizens against our treasonous government (yes, the current Federal Government is filled with traitors committing acts of treason daily), would be our due right to fight their tyrannical ways, and would not be treason.

      The Patriot act is treason.
      The CIA/FBI/NSA wiretapping / internet snooping / data collecting are all acts of treason.
      The FISA court is made up of treasonous traitors to our country.

      And by treason, I mean treason, as they have committed acts of Constitutional Terrorism to further push down the common people, to make them fear their "superiors" so that they do not contest when each evil and treasonous act is followed by an ever more heinous act because we let the first ones slide on by without contesting them.

      9/11 did NOT change the constitution.

    3. Re:Treason is one reason for the existence of 2nd by ebyrob · · Score: 2

      ... against all enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. You can throw out the corrupted implementation and keep the founding document quite easily. Maybe minus a couple hundred of the latter amendments. (minus 3 or so good ones: equal rights for women and race, Miranda etc.)

    4. Re:Treason is one reason for the existence of 2nd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The feds are nasty assholes indeed, but I don't like the corrupt local redneck sheriff any better, and for some reason, we are letting crazy people give self defense and resistance in general a bad name. They have successfully tagged anyone who complains about authority as a 'nutter'. Makes me think the tea party is a honeypot for exactly that purpose

  55. reverse tunnel to other FBI networks by ruir · · Score: 2

    installed without PC owners knowing as malware.... should provide hours of fun to the FBI.

  56. Re: Unconstitutional too by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

    The Fourth Amendment reads in part:

    > "...and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized ."

    This looks like an attempt to get around that provision. Sorry, FBI, you actually have to do police work.

  57. Amendment Text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/rules/preliminary-draft-proposed-amendments.pdf
    Page 338

    3 (b) Authority to Issue a Warrant. At the request of a
    4 federal law enforcement officer or an attorney for the
    5 government:
    6 * * * * *[ begin proposed new text ]
    7 (6) a magistrate judge with authority in any district
    8 where activities related to a crime may have
    9 occurred has authority to issue a warrant to use
    10 remote access to search electronic storage media
    11 and to seize or copy electronically stored
    12 information located within or outside that district
    13 if:
    14 (A) the district where the media or information
    15 is located has been concealed through
    16 technological means; or
    17 (B) in an investigation of a violation of
    18 18 U.S.C. Ã 1030(a)(5), the media are
    19 protected computers that have been
    20 damaged without authorization and are
    21 located in five or more districts.
    [end proposed new text]

  58. Amendment Text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It reads to me like they want to be able to get warrants without knowing in what legal juristiction a server is located (thanks to Tor). It still requires a judge or magistrate to approve the warrant to investigate a crime. I don't immediately see a problem with this.

  59. Rule 41(b): so few busts after Freedom Hosting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I assume Rule 41(b) explains why there was only one kiddy pron conviction after the FBI seized Freedom Hosting and took over a CP hidden site, using it to install drive-by malware on suspects' machines? Or was it that the malware only revealed visitors to an illegal hidden site and didn't capture what they downloaded or viewed?

  60. Re: Free Markets by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

    The free market method is to offer "dead or alive" bounties on whoever dumped in your water system, and let competition sort it out. One mining company might do it once, but after that, the rest would have an object lesson.

  61. Stuxnet by phorm · · Score: 1

    Supposedly, so were the centrifuges targeted by Stuxnet.

  62. Not Correct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Raytheon Buttfuck Systems (in short "Buttfuck") will sell the government their new X-Ray-CD-Reading-Buttfuck-System which can look through envelopes. I am sure Buttfuck will love to spend a couple hundred millions on this challenge. Or more precisely YOU will spend the money.

  63. The outside of the envelope is one thing by mpercy · · Score: 1

    The inside still requires a warrant.

  64. What is actually happening by Etherwalk · · Score: 4, Informative

    I wouldn't be surprised if people put up honeypots on Tor just to mess with 'em, and log all of the output over serial or something so that even if they get in, they can't purge the logs of their attempts.

    Search warrants are still subject to constitutional requirements of reason and due process; this is a procedural rule independent of that.

    It will allow a judge to issue the warrant even if the FBI or police are not sure what judicial district it's happening in. It's important to let a magistrate judge approve a warrant on that basis, because the current rule 41(b) does not provide for it except in terrorism cases. So if you have someone selling hard drugs online, for example, but the government can't tell whether they are located inside the United States or not, this provides a way for them to get a warrant to search.

    See the proposed rule (from last November) on page 111 of http://www.uscourts.gov/uscour...

    The old one is here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/rul...

    1. Re:What is actually happening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they are going to need a better rubber stamp, one that doesn't wear out so quickly.

    2. Re: What is actually happening by Rujiel · · Score: 1

      That's no reassurance.If they can't get a warrant, they can always resort to a national security letter or a gag order.

    3. Re:What is actually happening by Cederic · · Score: 1

      It's still illegal in the UK and if the FBI hack my computer then I will initiate legal action against them for it.

    4. Re:What is actually happening by gweihir · · Score: 1

      There is just a slight problem: For TOR, most users will not be in the US, and the warrant will be completely invalid.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    5. Re:What is actually happening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It will allow a judge to issue the warrant even if the FBI or police are not sure what judicial district it's happening in.

      Sounds like it will also allow a judge to issue a warrant when all I am "guilty" of is telecommuting.

      (6) a magistrate judge with authority in any district where activities related to a crime may have occurred has authority to issue a warrant to use remote access to search electronic storage media and to seize or copy electronically stored information located within or outside that district if:
      (A) the district where the media or information is located has been concealed through technological means;
      or
      (B) 17 in an investigation of a violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(5), the media are protected computers that have been damaged without authorization and are located in five or more districts.

      Thanks but no thanks. Too fucking broad.

    6. Re:What is actually happening by Etherwalk · · Score: 1

      It will allow a judge to issue the warrant even if the FBI or police are not sure what judicial district it's happening in.

      Sounds like it will also allow a judge to issue a warrant when all I am "guilty" of is telecommuting.

      Yes, it *sounds* like that, if you don't remember the constitution and due process parts. This is about which judge is able to issue a search warrant, *not* about whether the police have met the requirements for a search warrant based on probable cause (or falling within a few exceptions, like border searches).

    7. Re:What is actually happening by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      It's still illegal in the UK and if the FBI hack my computer then I will initiate legal action against them for it.

      Sure, and they'll just ignore your legal action. It isn't like the FBI is going to show up in a UK court to defend their actions. They'll just send an apology by way of the state department that they had a hunch you might be a terrorist and that they'd have told the UK in advance if they had realized that was where you were, and the UK government will say, "yeah, we know how that goes, thanks for the letter!"

      I'm not entirely sure whether there is a better solution besides decriminalizing stuff that the FBI shouldn't be harassing people about in the first place. For genuine serious crimes where they have a lead on tor and the means to investigate but no way to tell what borders that investigation will take them across, I'm not sure what could be done besides act first and apologize later. Absent some kind of international jurisdiction for internet crimes I'm not sure what any individual country can do.

    8. Re:What is actually happening by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      There is just a slight problem: For TOR, most users will not be in the US, and the warrant will be completely invalid.

      Agree, but the victims of the invalid warrant will also be without recourse.

    9. Re: What is actually happening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is a diplomatic problem. Unfortunately, us law has little provision to protect people outside its borders. Which is to say, it isn't concerned with that problem.

    10. Re:What is actually happening by Hydian · · Score: 1

      It *sounds* like that because that is what they are asking for according to the article:

      Now the FBI is asking for the authority to hack into and search devices without identifying any of the essential whos, whats, wheres, or whys — giving the FBI the authority to search your computer, tablet, or smartphone even if you are in no way suspected of a crime.

  65. Legal Cover by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mostly, they are trying to establish legal cover for what they intend (are) to do anyway. Get rid of the pesky defense lawyers that try to use the 4 amendment protections to protect ordinary citizens

  66. By the same logic of the FBI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The 4th amendment is invalid if you have door locks on your home. After all, if you have door locks it is proof that you have something to hide, so the FBI ought to bust in the door without a warrant. If you don't have door locks since you have nothing to hide and your door is unlocked you are legally obliged to let the FBI in anytime they want without a warrant.

  67. SOX, HIPAA, SEC & other regs by prgrmr · · Score: 2

    There are a host of federal regulations regarding maintaining the privacy of data that necessitate the use of corporate VPNs. Were the FBI to hack a corporate VPN and expose regulated data to the internet or the public via documents in an open hearing, the circus that would ensue as the Attorney General would try to explain how the FBI is exempt from all of those regs would be both entertaining and horrific.

    1. Re:SOX, HIPAA, SEC & other regs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry, none of their "evidence" will come to light, as it would be "violating National Secrets" to provide it in an open hearing.

      The accused will be accused, and found guilty, but not be permitted to face their accuser, nor know what information was used to determine their guilt.

      They'll also never be allowed to question the evidence, because FISA and secret courts will prevent them from doing so.

      Nice and clean, buttoned up like a well-fitted jacket, wouldn't you say?

  68. You do not have to latch if you are innocent by paiute · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My Lord, I request permission to knock in any door in Boston which my men find latched.

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  69. LOL by sentiblue · · Score: 2

    I can understand allowing the feds to hack TOR users... but VPN? Pretty much 100% of corporate environments these days use VPN... they make it sound like VPN is such an underground tool that harbors illegal activities.

  70. Isn't it already to hack anyone at any time? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe it depends on the definition of hacking, but I didn't think it was illegal to access data that wasn't secured very well. Obviously, there should be laws with consequences if you do something bad with said data, but accessing it should be illegal.

  71. Disaster Recovery! by Mariner28 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now that the FBI is handling my corporate penetration testing for me, how to I contact the NSA to arrange for online backup/restoral and disaster recovery? What better use of federal corporate taxes! ;-)

    --
    "A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding."
    1. Re:Disaster Recovery! by jmccue · · Score: 2

      backup is already in place, as always the problem is getting it restored -- ie: 9-track tapes

    2. Re:Disaster Recovery! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now that the FBI is handling my corporate penetration testing for me, how to I contact the NSA to arrange for online backup/restoral and disaster recovery? What better use of federal corporate taxes! ;-)

      FOIA

    3. Re:Disaster Recovery! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well they're already doing the backup part of the service. Just send your data through your nearest tapped undersea cable. They don't seem to have announced anything with regard to recovering the data from the backups though, so presumably that's a work in progress.

    4. Re:Disaster Recovery! by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Now that the FBI is handling my corporate penetration testing for me, how to I contact the NSA to arrange for online backup/restoral and disaster recovery? What better use of federal corporate taxes! ;-)

      You say that as a joke, but there is actually a serious side to this.

      The fact is that big brother is already well on their way to tracking everything that everybody on the planet does. And yet, in the US we have these crazy ideas like not wanting to have federal government IDs and such which holds back all kinds of progress. Imagine if you could get a government ID that in addition to the usual photo ID card has a smartcard on it for online authentication, and maybe even an acoustic modem for over-phone authentication. You could eliminate most forms of identity theft overnight.

      The whole reason we resist stuff like this is that we don't want the government/corporations/etc tracking us. The thing is, they already do it. When you have enough scale and enough data to aggregate you can get around the need for tidy unique IDs assigned to each individual. However, this solution means that only huge organizations can track you - small companies then can't compete as effectively, and you don't benefit personally either.

      For all we know the NSA probably has half of our hard drives fully copied onto their servers. Since they're going to do that whether we want them to or not, we might as well actually get some of the benefits of that...

    5. Re:Disaster Recovery! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just browse 4chan for a while.

    6. Re: Disaster Recovery! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they actually had that much data backed up, you'd think someone would have stepped forward during the IRS hard drive erasure scandals with Lois Lerner.

      I think you give these idiots too much credit.

  72. The FBI is primarily a Mormon Organization by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The FBI is primarily a Mormon Organization. I bet you didn't know that did you?

  73. What rights? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So while its great that all the Ameribros are getting all up tight about their archaic parchment based rights... this is easily overlooking the obvious problem...

    There is no international treaty, body, or group of laws designed to protect against investigation across boarders... sure you've got sovereign rights, but your 4th amendment rights only apply to you on 'American soil'. The definition of American soil fluctuates daily, and if there is no longer a need to have reasonable cause to investigate 'unknown' targets, the number of overseas targets will increase... particularly if you consider the international, boarderless, nature of TOR.

    Its all very hacker manifesto.

  74. Even Better by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    "Wait till your corporations trade secrets are leaked because the FBI's collector was insecure."

    Wait till your infrastructure dies because the FBI or some other three letter agency is poking around in your systems trying to install a backdoor or exploit. High end routers are expensive, but loss of data or business because of some G-man trying to hack your hardware is on another level entirely.

    1. Re:Even Better by Frobnicator · · Score: 1

      Wait till your infrastructure dies because the FBI or some other three letter agency is poking around in your systems trying to install a backdoor or exploit.

      Seems like you missed the news on that.

      Last May, as part of Glenn Greenwald's book, the NSA's process of supply-chain interdiction was exposed. They would intercept shipments of Cisco hardware, install the back doors, replace factory seals, and put it back into the shipping chain. One story. And another.

      Cisco's response was somewhat curious. It wasn't outrage. It wasn't a lawsuit. It wasn't an emotional response. It was a calm, publicly released letter addressed to President Obama about trust and confidence. Nowhere in their public statements do they say anything about surprise, or about lack of knowledge that it was happening, or that they were not complicit.

      Nope, it is an open letter asking the government to restore trust and confidence. It reads like the company was asking "please don't let these secrets go public again."

      It is widely believed -- and documented -- that government agencies have already inserted various backdoors into Cisco corporate security products. It is also likely that the companies know full well about their products being intercepted and modified by the government, and that Cisco and others are helping the various agencies by tagging the products to be modified.

      --
      //TODO: Think of witty sig statement
  75. Don't lock your doors, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the FBI might think you have something to hide!

  76. Source? by h4x0t · · Score: 1

    By what means are they attempting to change this 'Federal Rule 41 (b)'? TFA says nothing other than 'They are trying to'. What is the mechanism by which this is accomplished?

  77. TOR nodes by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    The fact that they are distinguishable from regular traffic makes the damn thing completely useless, worse than useless, it attracts attention like a flare. If you can't blend in, you're doing it wrong.

    And, you know, screw the FBI. They're going to do what they want, and nothing will come of it. Despite it all, they stand as tall as they ever did. And 95% of congress will win reelection next year. I guess all this ongoing chatter is just venting. Tomorrow? It's back to work...

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  78. Article author is confused by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 1

    The author is confused. See this discussion on HN where a lawyer or two explain what is actually going on.

    Basically, nothing is changing concerning the substantive requirements for a warrant. All that is changing is which judges can issue a warrant after the police have satisfied all the requirements of the Constitution and of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Suppose a crime took place in district X, using a computer in district Y. Before, the police would have to go to a judge in district Y. After the change, they will be able to go to a judge in district X if and only if something like TOR or VPN was used that prevents them from determining Y.

  79. Except you are a lier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The proposal would allow agencies to get a warrant with probable cause, without a specific location for the computer. You know a warrant from a judge to search to search the computer of a suspected criminal. That's actually how its supposed to work.

  80. So US VPN providers are dead by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    That's all this means. They're going to have a harder time using this nonsense outside of US jurisdiction. So that means the whole US tech sector that was hoping to get the world to log into US cloud data centers is dead.

    That's all these insane politicians and regulatory agencies have accomplished. The whole thing will just be moved to Sweden or Ireland or something where FBI orders are ultimately ignorable.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  81. Why the warrant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "the requested change would allow law enforcement to obtain a warrant to search electronic data without providing any specific details "

    Since when do the police need a warrant for anything?

    Did PATRIOTACT get repealed & i missed it?

  82. Please wake up and smell the NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Search warrants are still subject to constitutional requirements of reason and due process

    I dunno where you have been all the while ... USA is no longer a place where Constitution matters anymore

    If they can lie to the Congress and not charged ...
     
    If they can invade citizens' privacy without any due process ...
     
    ... what makes you think they even give a rat ass on obtaining 'search warrants', or to go through the proper channel to obtain whatever warrants they need in order to frisk you, your grandma and your young daughters?

    Please wake up, dude !

    This ain't the USA of yonder. Brave new world we live here, a world where no law applies other than the laws as stated by NSA

    1. Re: Please wake up and smell the NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yonder? You mean "yore."

  83. Encryption si still your friend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Encryption is still your best friend.

    Im no TOR expert so i wont comment on it but a good VPN (from a corp outside the USA is a good place to start)
    and full disc encryption is good too (AES 256 or more is still very secure if not completely unbreakable)

    I pay for a Buisness class Internet connection 100Mb/s and use a VPN (http://btguard.com/)

    I am using full disc encryption 2048 bit (64 character passwords) with triple cascadeing ciphers and hidden volumes.

    I sit here with my desktop facing backwards so i can rip the power cord out if anyone kicks my door in.

    Paranoia can keep you alive. =)

    SECURITY:
    Until May 2009, the only successful published attacks against the full AES were side-channel attacks on some specific implementations. The National Security Agency (NSA) reviewed all the AES finalists, including Rijndael, and stated that all of them were secure enough for U.S. Government non-classified data. In June 2003, the U.S. Government announced that AES could be used to protect classified information:

    The design and strength of all key lengths of the AES algorithm (i.e., 128, 192 and 256) are sufficient to protect classified information up to the SECRET level. TOP SECRET information will require use of either the 192 or 256 key lengths. The implementation of AES in products intended to protect national security systems and/or information must be reviewed and certified by NSA prior to their acquisition and use.

    AES has 10 rounds for 128-bit keys, 12 rounds for 192-bit keys, and 14 rounds for 256-bit keys. By 2006, the best known attacks were on 7 rounds for 128-bit keys, 8 rounds for 192-bit keys, and 9 rounds for 256-bit keys.

    MOST SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT:
    The first key-recovery attacks on full AES were due to Andrey Bogdanov, Dmitry Khovratovich, and Christian Rechberger, and were published in 2011. The attack is a biclique attack and is faster than brute force by a factor of about four. It requires 2126.1 operations to recover an AES-128 key. For AES-192 and AES-256, 2189.7 and 2254.4 operations are needed, respectively. This is a very small gain, as a 126-bit key (instead of 128-bits) would still take billions of years. Also, the authors calculate the best attack using their technique on AES with a 128 bit key requires storing 288 bits of data. That works out to about 38 trillion terabytes of data, which is more than all the data stored on all the computers on the planet. As such this is a theoretical attack that has no practical implication on AES security.

    According to the Snowden documents, NSA is doing research on whether a cryptographic attack based on tau statistic may help to break AES.

    As for now, there are no known practical attacks that would allow anyone to read correctly implemented AES encrypted data.

  84. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    America, you ARE a problem, and this already IS a problem for everyone on the planet.
    It's the land of the slogan and home of the willfully ignorant.
    Not all, but sadly the mouth-breathing majority ...

  85. you all are missing the point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These agencies just don't give a shit about "laws", the constitution or anything in general. They have proven over and over again they will do whatever the hell they want because they will not suffer any consequences!!

  86. Reasonable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know, like how a locked trunk is reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, so the cops are allowed to saw it open when they see fit.

  87. Misleading nonstory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out the actual rules: http://fee.org/freeman/detail/youll-never-guess-whos-trying-to-hack-your-iphone#comment-1804529890

    Normally, to obtain a warrant, they would have to go to the judge from the district in which the target computer is located. This says that if they don't know where the target computer is located (because it is behind TOR or a VPN, for example), then they can simply go to the judge in the district where the crime they're investigating was committed, and even though technically that judge probably doesn't have jurisdiction over the target computer, he can issue a warrant for it. Common sense really. Doesn't change whether they would have to prove probable cause.

  88. Hit The Little Guy by jman.org · · Score: 1

    And just how many legitimate small businesses run vpn over the open internet to connect their offices?

    This is, alas the "guns don't kill people" argument all over again. The weapon (or in this case, technology) is in and of itself not the problem. It's the way it gets used by a small subset of those who employ it.

  89. drawbacks for edata by perih60 · · Score: 1

    i do not live in the usa , a law has been passed whereby doctors now have to write medical patient notes on a computer !! this is not a joke , " my government " has ordered my doctor to put all the MEDICAL details on to a pc ! in hospitals because of this new law doctors have told me that it takes them much longer to retrive data than before . from their perspective it was much easier using charts . and considering that about 60% of the money in the " healthbudget " goes to administration , 60% . so as there are a lot of clarks able to have acsess to info they do not need , nor do i see a reason for politicen to know , or have acsess to our medical info . or sell info to a 3rd party . we have problems mainly in the tax dept, and social securety , people selling other peoples personal info . taking everything into account as they would have said in 1984 this is" double plus ungood " we are already at the point best displayed in the movie " modern times " cameras everywhere ( in modern times there is even one in the loo ) but in my opinion forcing a GP to put everything into electronic storage ( cycles , nocturnal emissions should stay private ), is much more dangerous . lastly because i have certain ailments it is important that i put appointments ect on my cheap old handy ( cellphone ) , and just because i happen to be in a park does NOT mean all that info is in the open wether i'm talking on the phone or not , because i only discuss some things with my doctors ! writting in a diary could be done ,however that would sepperate the info , this hightens the inconvenience of needing to remember to have a working pen and diary as well . do people in general not see the difference between secrecy and plain old fashon privacy ?

    --
    the power of men in charge of words over men in charge of machines surpasses all wondering S WEIL
  90. We can conclude by NewYork · · Score: 1

    Internet is HONEYPOT.

  91. We'll just hack back the FBI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We're not really afraid. Bring it on.

  92. VPN = any company by ancientmyth · · Score: 1

    Any law created is to pursue those they have jurisdiction. In this case, its citizens. Any company that uses remote users have VPNs. Any browser that 'can' use TOR will becomethat allows remote users use a VPN. This will put any company that does works or resides in the US at risk. If you use TOR to browse, this will allow them to

  93. TOR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, I'm stupid.

    Does this mean they don't need a search warrant to search my computer if I'm not using TOR or a VPN?

  94. Question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have read many posts and have had time digest and to deduce certain ideas on this topic. Every person (as of this writing) has the right to express their opinions in whichever way they see fit. When all things have been said and done, does anyone have an actual "solution" to what is happening?

  95. Gestapo wars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We here in North Korea have such rights already and are conducting criminal investigations on all.
    USA just mistakes them as military attacks.