Posted on 06/25/2016 9:30:05 AM PDT by Swordmaker
'Computers accessing the internet can -- and eventually will -- be hacked,' says Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr.
The FBI did not need a warrant to hack a US citizen's computer, according to a ruling handed down on Tuesday by Senior US District Court Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. If the decision is upheld, it may have ripple effects that essentially allow government agencies to remotely search and seize information from any computer in the US without a warrant, probable cause or suspicion, the EFF argues.
The ruling relates to a worldwide FBI sting dubbed Operation Pacifier that targeted child pornography sites on anonymity networks such as Tor. The FBI deployed hacking tools across computers in the US, Chile, Denmark and Greece, and caught 1,500 pedophiles on the Dark Web. As part of Operation Pacifier, authorities briefly seized and continued running a server that hosted the child pornography site Playpen, meanwhile deploying a hacking tool known internally as a network investigative technique. The NIT collected roughly 1,500 IP addresses of visitors to the site.
Judge Morgan, Jr. wrote on Tuesday that the FBI's actions did not violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects US citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. "The Court finds that no Fourth Amendment violation occurred here because the government did not need a warrant to capture Defendant's IP address" and other information from the suspect's computer, he wrote.
"Generally, one has no reasonable expectation of privacy in an IP address when using the internet," Morgan, Jr. said. "Even an internet user who employs the Tor network in an attempt to mask his or her IP address lacks a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her IP address."
Basically, the judge argued, computers are hacked every day and no one should expect privacy while operating online.
"The rise of computer hacking via the internet has changed the public's reasonable expectations of privacy," he wrote. "Now, it seems unreasonable to think that a computer connected to the web is immune from invasion. Indeed, the opposite holds true: In today's digital world, it appears to be a virtual certainty that computers accessing the internet can -- and eventually will -- be hacked."
A Massachusetts court previously threw out evidence gathered by the FBI in one Playpen case, ruling that the operation relied on an invalid warrant. The bureau has moved to keep its NIT software classified, citing national security concerns if it were made public.
In April, the Supreme Court upheld the FBI's proposed changes to Rule 41, allowing judges to approve remote access to suspects' computers that fall outside their jurisdiction. Under the new rules, a judge in New York can authorize hacking a computer in Alaska, for example. A bipartisan Senate bill called the Stop Mass Hacking Act aims to block these expanded powers. There's a similar bill making its way through the House of Representatives, as well, according to Reuters. Congress has until December 1st to reject or amend the Supreme Court's ruling -- if it doesn't, the changes to Rule 41 will take effect as planned.
Ain’t it great not to be encumbered with that old, evil white man’s Constitution? Fee safe yet?
Its got to apply both ways.
Courts will just rule it does, but that if you do break in there are other laws on the books you have broken, national security, etc.
Sounds like I might need to update my radio too. Even though I have the 12 band that gets broadcasts from foreign countries?
I’ve just about given up on posting anything other than the garden thread. Do still reply on cooking, prepper, and a few assorted threads. Totally stay off the political, except for scanning the first paragraph or so.
Thanks for the ping.
Yep you got it. Hackers and burglars - no expectation of privacy - no warrant - lets the government do what it wants with no oversight-course they were anyway, but at least it didn’t have the cover of legality.
Kind of hard to do important stuff without being online; financial transactions etc. If by important, you mean stuff you want kept private then realize that hackers can piggy-back on other people's connections to the Internet. One way they do that is with parabolic dishes to catch unsecured wi-fi router connections at a remote distance miles away. If you want to hack, do it safely and remotely.
Excellent analogy to housebreaking. His ruling sure seems to violate the Fourth Amendment on the face of it...”The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause...”
Residences in cities can -- and eventually will -- be burglarized.
I do hardly any financial transactions on the internet. Indeed, the one I sometimes do I don’t do on line all the time.
I also do not engage in any of the popular social media or networking either, as these are usually centered around how people feel or else endless updates on what they are doing.
... as for emails all I ever seem to do is delete them....
But I do rather like forums where people talk about what they think and believe rather than how they feel or what they are doing.
HACK YOU!!!!!
Do these individuals not read our Bill of Rights during their expensive educations?
Next stop, planting evidence on dissidents’ computers to be used as evidence in a court of law. Welcome to totalitarianism.
“Hacking is illegal” What a good point!! The same judge who advocates against unreasonable search and seizures in his next case may sentence Hacker XYZ to a prison sentence and a felony on his record. Only policeman wih guns may hack. I guess you need a ‘license’ to hack via the branch of gvernment who enforces laws.
“Next stop, planting evidence on dissidents’ computers to be used as evidence in a court of law. Welcome to totalitarianism.”
Political enemies will be targeted and subversive search histories planted, along with illegal items to facilitate prosecution.
Back up an image of your drive often, store it someplace away from your computer so you have proof of what was on there and when.
A valid point....
Thanks. I do backup to iCloud. So that may not be as secure as a hard drive.
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