Unsealed Court Docs Show FBI Used Malware Like 'A Grenade' (vice.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: In 2013, the FBI received permission to hack over 300 specific users of dark web email service TorMail. But now, after the warrants and their applications have finally been unsealed, experts say the agency illegally went further, and hacked perfectly legitimate users of the privacy-focused service. "That is, while the warrant authorized hacking with a scalpel, the FBI delivered their malware to TorMail users with a grenade," Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told Motherboard in an email. The move comes after the ACLU pushed to unseal the case dockets in September. The Department of Justice recently decided to publish redacted versions of related documents. In 2013, the FBI seized Freedom Hosting, a service that hosted dark web sites, including a large number of child pornography sites and the privacy-focused email service TorMail. The agency then went on to deploy a network investigative technique (NIT) -- a piece of malware -- designed to obtain the real IP address of those visiting Freedom Hosting sites. According to the new documents, the NIT was used against users of 23 separate websites. As for TorMail, officials have maintained that the government obtained a warrant to deploy the NIT against specific users of the service. Now, we do know that to be true: recently unsealed affidavits include a total of over 300 redacted TorMail accounts that the FBI wanted to target. All of these accounts were allegedly linked to child pornography-related crimes, according to court documents. Importantly, the affidavits say that the NIT would only be used to "investigate any user who logs into any of the TARGET ACCOUNTS by entering a username and password." But, according to sources who used TorMail and previous reporting, the NIT was deployed before the TorMail login page was even displayed, raising the question of how the FBI could have possibly targeted specific accounts.

Comments

J Edgar is still in charge of the FBI

[Required Snark]

His body is in suspended animation, but he has telepathic control over the entire organization.

Actually it makes no difference if he is dead, alive or none of the above. Nothing has changed since Hoover was in charge of the FBI. They don't care about the Constitution and are lawless, which means they act as if no law applies to what they do. Their agenda, which includes expected areas like going after bank robbers, kidnappers and organized crime also includes suppressing and criminalizing any attempt to alter the current political order, even if it is totally legitimate. This activity is rarely targeted to any right wing movement, but the mere existence of a left wing or minority organization brings the hammer down.,

Compare and Contrast: Occupy Wall Street and the take over of the Oregon wildlife facility by armed Christian terrorists. Law enforcement, including the FBI, sent in provocateurs to incite violence, infiltrated to gather (illegal) intelligence, and engaged in intimidation during and after Occupy events. Just sending an FBI agent to do "routine" interviews with employers, co-workers or neighbors is a way of punishing a person for using their right to express their opinion, and the FBI takes great advantage of that, and they did a lot of it

Now look at the Oregon armed takeover. For weeks right wing Cowboys with Guns were wandering into town for a hot meal or a warm bed. There was no perimeter established. Local and Federal law enforcement (i.e. the FBI) stayed as far away as possible. The didn't want to cause an "incident". It was only after the press stated to take notice of the absence of law enforcement and the Governor of Oregon wrote a letter of complaint that law enforce showed up.

The FBI always takes sides. They only go after right wingers after events become so extreme they can't be swept under the rug. They go after anyone else just for opening their mouths. So J Edgar continues to assert his rule.