With today’s amendments to Rule 41, the statute that regulates legal search and seizure, the US Department of Justice has a new weapon to fight cyber crime — but it’s a double-edged sword. The changes expand the FBI’s ability to search multiple computers, phones and other devices across the country, and even overseas, on a single warrant. In an increasingly connected world, amending the rules is both necessary for law enforcement agencies and deeply concerning for digital privacy advocates. And for everyday citizens, it’s a little bit of both.
Today’s changes allow judges to issue warrants for federal agencies to remotely access, search, seize and copy digital information that’s been concealed via anonymizing software like Tor or a VPN. The changes also allow judges to grant warrants for the search, seizure and copying of information on any connected device that’s attacked in a hacking campaign. Officially, the amendments read as follows:
“A magistrate judge with authority in any district where activities related to a crime may have occurred has authority to issue a warrant to use remote access to search electronic storage media and to seize or copy electronically stored information located within or outside that district if: (A) the district where the media or information is located has been concealed through technological means; or (B) in an investigation of a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5), the media are protected computers that have been damaged without authorization and are located in five or more districts.”
Two recent hacking instances offer insight into how these new rules might play out in the real world.
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