Posted on 11/12/2015 7:26:53 AM PST by maggief
The team behind the world’s largest anonymous online network is accusing the FBI of paying security researchers at least $1 million to uncover the identities of its users as part of a sweeping criminal investigation.
If true, the payment would represent a concerning collaboration that may be illegal if the FBI didn’t obtain a warrant, according to the Tor Project, which oversees the online anonymity software Tor.
In a late Wednesday blog post, Tor Project Director Roger Dingledine said the FBI directed researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to find out the personal details of a wide swath of Tor users. “Apparently these researchers were paid by the FBI to attack hidden services users in a broad sweep, and then sift through their data to find people whom they could accuse of crimes,†Dingledine said. “There is no indication yet that they had a warrant or any institutional oversight by Carnegie Mellon's Institutional Review Board.â€
“We think it's unlikely they could have gotten a valid warrant for CMU's attack as conducted, since it was not narrowly tailored to target criminals or criminal activity, but instead appears to have indiscriminately targeted many users at once,†he added.
According to multiple reports, the unmasking efforts came during the FBI’s investigation into Silk Road 2.0, the major dark Web market that, like its notorious predecessor, enabled more than 100,000 people to buy and sell illegal drugs anonymously over the Internet, according to the Justice Department.
In the bust last November, authorities took down the central marketplace and dozens of other similar dark Web sites, while arresting a handful of people in connection with Silk Road 2.
At the time, Tor acknowledged it wasn’t sure exactly how investigators had cracked the anonymity of the Tor users, and many worried Tor might have been widely compromised.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Maybe they can spare a few thou to buy Hillary's emails from the Russians or Chinese.
Maybe they can spare a few thou to buy Hillary's emails from the Russians or Chinese.
>> A million to bust people downloading Dizknee trash.
Tor is also a linchpin in ransomware technology (e.g. Cryptowall). Maybe that’s what the FBI is after. If so, they have my blessing.
The only way to fight this would be an injured party files suit. I doubt anyone would admit to this illegal search! It would seem they are giving the injured parties a way out of the charges. Everyone gets paid and everyone wins.
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Civil liberties are under attack if law enforcement believes it can circumvent the rules of evidence by outsourcing police work to universities
the FBI directed researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to find out the personal details of a wide swath of Tor users. Apparently these researchers were paid by the FBI to attack hidden services users in a broad sweep, and then sift through their data to find people whom they could accuse of crimes
Anyone care to bet that these "researchers" were undergrad hipsters and IT majors who were paid to be Cyber-Warriors for Obama?
That’s right - and I’m sure the “people whom they could accuse of crimes” were ones the Administration had already identified as Enemies of the State.
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