Australian Authorities Hacked Computers in the US (vice.com)

Motherboard is reporting that Australian authorities hacked Tor users in the United States as part of a child pornography investigation. The revelation comes through recently-filed US court documents. The incident underscores a trend where law enforcement around the world are increasingly pursuing targets overseas using hacking tools, raising legal questions around agencies' reach. From the report: In one case, Australian authorities remotely hacked a computer in Michigan to obtain the suspect's IP address. "The Love Zone" was a prolific dark web child abuse site, where users were instructed to upload material at least once a month to maintain access to the forum. By July 2014, the site had over 29,000 members, according to US court documents, constituting what the US Department of Justice described as a "technologically sophisticated conspiracy." In 2014, Queensland Police Service's Task Force Argos, a small, specialised unit focused on combating child exploitation crimes, identified the site's Australian administrator in part because of a localized greeting he signed messages with. The unit quietly took over his account, and for months ran the site in an undercover capacity, posing as its owner. Task Force Argos' logo includes a scorpion, and the tagline "Leave No Stone Unturned." Because The Love Zone was based on the dark web, users typically connected via the Tor network, masking their IP addresses even from the law enforcement agents who were secretly in control of the site. Task Force Argos could see what the users were viewing, and what pages they were visiting, but not where they were really connecting from.

Comments

Re:No Problem Here

[DarkOx]

I have to agree with you. From the quick google search I did possession and distribution of CP is prima facie illegal in the US. There are no special exceptions for LEOs conducting strings. Obviously we have a big general exception for storage of evidence etc, maybe it was the Aussies that did most of the objectionable hosting etc but its still highly questionable for the DOJ to cooperate in an investigation using such methods. If that is "ok to do" than pretty much all the DOJ need do is find some banana republic somewhere to hire some work out to and basically anything they do on the Internet is suddenly above and beyond the reach of law.

The other issue is hacking suspects computers without a search warrant seems like a plain violation of the CFAA to me. So again the feds cooperating with an other nation using such methods should be illegal as they are accessories to the crime.

If Law Enforcement can't follow the law the rest of us should not have to either.