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."

Comments

Cornyn, Straw Man of the Senate (apologies to Oz)

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Re:Americans

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure which point you're trying to make (if any).
That quote means the power of the government is granted by and limited to what's in the Constitution. Which doesn't include search without probable cause.

No, why? Let them go nuts

[fustakrakich]

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.

The actual bill...

[BringsApples]

Found here.

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.)

Re:Cornyn, Straw Man of the Senate (apologies to O

[dgatwood]

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.

No, not "luckily". Technically, one possibility would have been than the bill would be declared unconstitutional, but a more likely result would have been:

• Forcing the government to make your no-fly status accessible to the general public (particularly if they also closed the gun show loophole).
• Pitting the entire gun lobby and the second amendment against the no-fly list, which would have very quickly forced the government to create a formal appeals system (either by SCOTUS decree or mass threats to elect libertarians instead of Republicans next round).

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.

Re:Americans

[dgatwood]

I'm not sure why.

Perhaps because if you compare the first two stretch goals, you come up with $150,000 for 440 rolls of toilet paper, or $340 a roll. That's a price that would make even defense contractors blush. The only way the numbers would add up is if they were in Yen or the rolls were gold plated.

Re: Americans

[BlueStrat]

Nice logic. When you are in a courtroom and put your hand on the bible to verify what you say is true, does that mean you read the whole bible?

If everyone is expected to have read and understood every single law on the books ('ignorance of the law is no excuse' even though after spending millions of $ on research they can't even say *how many* Federal laws there are [never mind local laws]) why would an exception be made here?

Strat