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Senator Urges Colleagues to Prevent Expansion of Government Hacking (onthewire.io)
Thursday Sen. Ron Wyden urged the Senate to block a pending change to federal Rule 41, which starting in December will allow judges to authorize remote access to an unlimited number of computers. An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes On The Wire's update on the "Stopping Mass Hacking" Act:
In May, Wyden introduced a one-sentence bill that would prevent the change. The Senate has taken no action on the bill thus far and Wyden on Thursday warned that continued inaction on the issue would be dangerous. "If the Senate does nothing, if the Senate fails to act, what's ahead for Americans is a massive expansion of government hacking and surveillance powers..."
Wyden asked the Senate to pass his bill by unanimous consent, but Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) objected, saying that the change to Rule 41 was a simple one that would help law enforcement agencies know which venue is the correct one to ask for a warrant... Cornyn cited recent reports about hacks of the election systems in some states, possibly by foreign governments, as evidence of the need for the change. "This isn't a time to retreat and allow cyberspace to be run amok by cybercriminals. This is a very sensible tool of venue."
Google, PayPal, and the Tor Project are all opposing the pending rule change, along with the EFF, which is gathering signatures online for a petition arguing that vaguer warrants "could impact any person using a computer with Internet access anywhere in the world."
Wyden asked the Senate to pass his bill by unanimous consent, but Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) objected, saying that the change to Rule 41 was a simple one that would help law enforcement agencies know which venue is the correct one to ask for a warrant... Cornyn cited recent reports about hacks of the election systems in some states, possibly by foreign governments, as evidence of the need for the change. "This isn't a time to retreat and allow cyberspace to be run amok by cybercriminals. This is a very sensible tool of venue."
Google, PayPal, and the Tor Project are all opposing the pending rule change, along with the EFF, which is gathering signatures online for a petition arguing that vaguer warrants "could impact any person using a computer with Internet access anywhere in the world."
Is this where we see the unveiling of the true nature of windows 10, to allow any agent of govt full access to your computer without a warrant?
This is my congressman. Senator Cornyn, the Straw Man of the Senate, is proof positive that you don't have to be born with Zika to have no brains. Sadly he keeps proposing measures that would have unfortunate and undesirable effects.
For example, months ago Cornyn proposed a bill that would ban persons on the no-fly list from purchasing firearms. His incredibly naieve and idiotic characterisation of his bill was that it would stop terrorists from buying guns. As if all we needed to do was tell them to quit buying! And there was no consideration of the fact that the no-fly list is riddled with innocents who have no way to investigate or change their status on the no-fly list. Cornyn seemed blithely unaware of the constitutional questionability of the bill. Luckily it was discarded by more intelligent men and women.
So Cornyn's at it again. We (his constituency) need to vote this fool out of office and get a different conservative, one with a brain instead. And there are plenty out there, you jokesters!
Americans get all riled up when you post a picture of your dog sitting on a star spangled banner, but nobody seems to give a fuck when the government pisses all over the constitution.
As a US citizen, this makes me sad...
This will help keep us on our toes and build better defenses against them.. The war is already on, and no stupid law is going to stop them anyway, so let's keep it out in the open and guard against complacency on our part.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
This bill rejects an amendment to rule 41 (Search and Seizure) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court and transmitted to Congress for review on April 28, 2016. (The amendment allows a federal magistrate judge to issue a warrant to use remote access to search computers and seize electronically stored information located inside or outside that judge's district in specific circumstances.)
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
... Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) objected, saying that the change to Rule 41 was a simple one that would help law enforcement agencies ...
Sage thinking from another waste-of-space in Congress. To hell if it's right or wrong if it helps the police -- do whatever they want to do.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Do not confuse corrupt with "brainless". He most certainly is not brainless. The people that vote for him on the other hand.... No, correction, they are just as corrupt, voting for someone that *brings home the bacon*. Why do you think people like Feinstein, Hatch, Wasserman Schultz, in fact democrats and republicans in general, always win? Everybody wants a piece of the pie, and the results you see should be expected.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
No, not "luckily". Technically, one possibility would have been than the bill would be declared unconstitutional, but a more likely result would have been:
IMO, the best thing you can do to change a bad law is to make it suddenly affect NRA members. That's the surest way to scare your congresscritters into fixing it.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
People like Feinstein win because the Republicans run ultra-right wing-nuts against them. You can't run somebody like Emken on an anti-gay-rights platform in California. You'd be more likely to win by running a Boxer (the dog, not the Senator).
All the Republicans have to do to win California is run a socially liberal candidate—someone with a strong position on equal rights, but fiscally conservative. I know that would technically border on a libertarian candidate in a lot of ways, which is why they don't want to do it, but if they ran that sort of moderate Republican against Boxer or Feinstein, they would have at least a decent chance of winning—particularly if they did it in an off-season election (non-presidential) when fewer Democrats vote.
The fact that the Republicans keep trying and failing to push a radical right-wing social agenda in California tells me unequivocally that either Republican leadership in California is grossly incompetent or they don't actually want to win in California.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
they don't actually want to win in California.
They don't need to. The windfall from quid pro quo with the democrats is perfectly sufficient. Whatever "opposition" they put up is show business to make it look a little less obvious.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
A group of bipartisan senators introduced a bill on Thursday that blocks a pending judicial rule change allowing U.S judges to issue search warrants for remote access to computers in any jurisdiction, even overseas.
Don't these idiots realize that attacking computers in foreign countries could be considered an act of war? The arrogant self-serving corruptness of the American justice system is truly frightening.
I don't get it, our government throws a fit whenever the Chinese, North Koreans, or Russians hack our computer systems. Now we want to do the same to them and think that because "we granted ourselves that power" will prevent repercussions? The sheer arrogance.
Security researchers globally start to really notice the per user malware govs and mil push down?
Gov and mil malware staging servers get blogged about by security researchers in real time as malware when more ever users get tasked at a state and federal level?
Users start to upload checksums about every aspect of changes to their OS, outgoing software firewalls get ever more lower into the consumer OS.
Can a NSL can stop international brands offering real, good quality security software to US users? The US brand can be "asked" for a gov backdoor or get whitelisted.. Long term international reputations will be built on finding malware not been decades too late and full of US gov requested backdoors/trapdoors/junk encryption.
Fooling a junk standard US consumer OS that the gov malware is OS safe, user installed and OS signed will no longer be the enough.
Over time contractor created, well hidden signed code deep in a junk consumer OS sending back data to a gov or mil will get more noticed even down at the per user level.
Its a race to keep big US brands gov back door friendly and that gov malware OS signed vs seeing the gov collected data flow out.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The rule change says that IF a target computer is concealing itself through some technical means, like a VPN or TOR,...
Or NAT like most consumer routers employ? Who defines the terms? When are they defined, if they are defined...before civil rights are violated or belatedly (if at all) years later after a lengthy string of legal battles to nail down the meanings?
The other question this brings up is of "juris-my-diction" (Matrix). A court/judge either has full jurisdiction in a location/area or he does not. If a court/judge has a limitless jurisdiction over the internet in this case, that means courts/judges have limitless jurisdiction regarding the internet in all matters before them.
This is not a good thing. There are reasons why judges/courts were set up with limited jurisdictions, and it was not purely or even majorly a matter of slow transportation and communication at that time period.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.