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FBI To Gain Expanded Hacking Powers as Senate Effort To Block Fails (reuters.com)
A last-ditch effort in the Senate to block or delay rule changes that would expand the U.S. government's hacking powers failed Wednesday, despite concerns the changes would jeopardize the privacy rights of innocent Americans and risk possible abuse by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Reuters adds: Democratic Senator Ron Wyden attempted three times to delay the changes which, will take effect on Thursday and allow U.S. judges will be able to issue search warrants that give the FBI the authority to remotely access computers in any jurisdiction, potentially even overseas. His efforts were blocked by Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate's second-ranking Republican. The changes will allow judges to issue warrants in cases when a suspect uses anonymizing technology to conceal the location of his or her computer or for an investigation into a network of hacked or infected computers, such as a botnet.
Can the government just ban encryption already?
And do we really need HTTPS ?
The FBI's hacking would be easier if all systems were required to have a special port with a telnetd root shell running, exclusively for the FBI's use, of course.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Bear this in mind: A Democrat tried to block the FBI from hacking any computer anywhere and a Republican tried to stop it.
And yes, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has been opposing this snooping since he entered the Senate in 1996, so no, it doesn't have anything to do with Donald Trump or President Obama.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Who is msmash/manish? He/she seems to have an agenda?
Take note of who voted for, and against, this.
I haven't seen a posting yet of the entire list, but in addition to the two named in the summary, Chris Coons (D-Delaware) and Steve Maines (R-Montana) are also noted in TFA as voicing opposition.
On the one hand this of course sounds bad for all the obvious reasons slashdot has focused on over the many many years. On the other hand however, better they are honest with the public about the torture and hacking they were going to be doing regardless of what their laws said.
"jeopardize the privacy rights of innocent Americans and risk possible abuse by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump"
But it was just passed by the current administration. So the ones that want to "jeopardize the privacy rights" would be the current administration. But now the current administration will cry foul. But if their person won they would most likely just let this pass with no issues and not said a word.
Until the first batch of senators, congress critters, or other high officials or combination thereof suddenly gets thier dirt exposed and leaked via the FBI.
Yes, this is a big privacy blow. Probably the biggest in quite some time. Maybe the largest since the Patriot Act. And yes, there will be little outcry because most people don't even know or care what this means. But what will no doubt happen is the fed will shop around until they find the judge who grant them every warrant they want. Which they will no doubt find several if not more. This should be called, "Just Grant My Damned Warrant"
If the FBI is now a republican proxy, how will the Democrats make plans?
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
Please re-submit news article describing legislation going into effect without clumsily trying to re-cast it as a Donald Trump issue. I hope everyone can see how banal it is. So if Hillary had won, these Orwellian rule changes would have triggered chirping bluebirds instead?? People will tire soon of the press finding new ways to take the 'passive' out of passive-aggressive.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
All three branches of the government have failed to do their jobs.
Despite what any agency or congress or the courts say, the "laws" they pass are still subordinate to the U.S. Constitution. No "law" has the power to override it.
I encrypt the hell out of everything and I will never change that practice. If government wants the data, they must obtain a true warrant and I will decrypt it for them.
Just thought I would point that out to any passing FBI operative who thinks that they can go interfering with remote devices without considering international borders.
You may just find yourself falling foul of international treaties initiated by your own government that class this sort of action as cyber-warfare. I just hope the government above the target of your hack is understanding and decides not to retaliate with physical force to your electronic attack.
I for one would find it an interesting exercise in jurisprudence for the FBI to be indicted in a foreign court for cyberwarfare.
Thank goodness that Obama is still president and can veto this change. Or perhaps he never signed it into law and the author of the story is incorrect? Obama would never have authorized this. This is horrible. So we can safely assume Obama will have a chance to veto this before it gets passed. Before those damn rethuglicans get into power and ram it through.
Thanks Obama! Thanks Democrats!
So it would not be unreasonable for any other government in the world to do the same. All computers in the USA are fair game to every other country's government. Completely legal.
Thank gawd I use OpenBSD and host my own web, email, and cloud services. Let the FBI give it a go against one of (if not the) most secure operating systems out there.
They could have read it right off your keyboard anyway. By far the easiest place to monitor communications is at the unencrypted endpoints. If you don't want anyone to know what you're thinking, don't say it, don't enter it into a computer in any form, and don't write it down. That'll protect you. For at least a little while longer, anyway.
"Two people can keep a secret -- if one of them is dead."
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Arguments of the form:
A's assertion: "Joe never kicked the dog"
B's response: "Larry did so kick the dog!"
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I think what our courts would (eventually) say is that the constitution doesn't protect anyone, or anything, outside of the USA itself, and so no warrant is required in the first place.
That's pretty much the entire basis our CIA was built upon.
I'm not saying this is a good outlook; but I am saying it is the outlook.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
You, guys, wanted the President to be a dictator as far back as 2010! So he could "do a lot of things quickly".
The law being discussed will be signed by Obama. Whom you elected.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I wish you people would be as concerned about the *actual* abuses by the Obama administration as you are about the *possible* abuses by the Trump administration.
Do you have ESP?
Bear this in mind: A Democrat tried to block the FBI from hacking any computer anywhere and a Republican tried to stop it.
And yes, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has been opposing this snooping since he entered the Senate in 1996, so no, it doesn't have anything to do with Donald Trump or President Obama.
Yep.
Taking $60 million from down-ballot campaigns and giving it to the Clinton campaign so she could defeat Bernie Sanders doesn't seem like such a good move now, does it?
There is no law. This is a change in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which are set by the Federal Courts, and will take effect unless Congress stops it. Sen. Wyden was trying to stop it, but failed. Get your damn facts straight.
Short version: This is the US version of the 'snooper's charter' that has become law in Australia and the UK.
The USA has claimed they own the internet for some time now and no-one's denied it. This is a logical journey down a slippery slope: Doubly so, if one thinks the USA should be the world police.
Thank you for confirming, the controversy has nothing to do with Trump. Just as I was saying.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
He's been against this crap when Clinton, Feinstein, Boxer, Obama, and others were all pushing or aquiescing to it as well!
I really wish he was a Senator for my District because at least on tech issues and privacy he's on the same page I am.
Related: Now that the FBI has broad ranging support for hacking anyone, how long do you think it will be until we find out about Trustzone/TPM/Management Engine/SEE hardware, and the assorted chains of 'untrustworthy' firmware being used to carte blanche hack everyone's system who wasn't smart enough to hold onto older hardware, ensuring that all session keys for each hop of your 'anonymized' connection have been compromised, in addition to the capability to hack your system to uncover your identity so they can punish you for your 'wrongdoing' (whether made up or not!)
Society domestic and abroad has reached a truly dark point in our history, and not because of Trump (he's a symptom, not the cause sheeple!) but because people calling the shots at the extra-governmental level have all the pieces in play to allow takeover/enslavement of society, not through physical shackles as in the past, but through blackmail on a scale the elites of past generations could only have dreamed of. Getting out before the yoke is firmly lodged against our shoulders will be hard, but if you want any hope for yourselves, or even worse, your children, now is the time to act. We need legislature advocates, hardware designers/manufacturers and funders, people willing to pay more for secure and user controlled hardware (but not the 40-400x markup most current offerings have over the equivalent consumer systems!) If you can, avoid for-profit entities, if you can't, ensure the corporate charter is created to keep them independent, puts production above shareholders, and is funded entirely by sources without strings attached (except to produce hardware returning freedom back to the owner/user!)
Liberty has always been a facade promised to use by our 'betters', but as of late the facade is wearing thin and the fascism and authoritarianism is once again rubbing through. Now is the time to scrape that underlying foundation away and replace it with the panelling of true liberty, not a cheaply made imitation.
allow U.S. judges will be able to issue search warrants that give the FBI the authority to remotely access computers in any jurisdiction, potentially even overseas.
And that doesn't violate my country's law...how exactly?
Ezekiel 23:20