On December 1, an update to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure took effect. This rule allows one judge to give authorities, like the FBI, a warrant to hack not only a computer in their district, but remote computers in other states, and perhaps around the world. The rule is supposed to make it easier for authorities to track down botnet masters, or criminals who abuse VPN services or anonymization services like Tor. However, it has some privacy implications as well. Watch today’s video to learn more, and feel free to share what you think in the comments.
Episode Runtime: 4:12
Direct YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5G-7za5KKw
EPISODE REFERENCES:
- The Fed can hack suspicious Tor and VPN users – Betanews
- The FBI got more hacking power – Gizmodo
- Fed’s get expanded hacking powers – PCMag
- Department of Justice’s blog post reasoning this change – Justice.gov
- Description of Rule 41 – Cornell.edu