On
Thursday, December 1, a vital Supreme Court order is set to go into
effect that dramatically expands the surveillance power of federal
agents. The impending alteration to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure softens the legal requirements for obtaining
search and seizure warrants that grant the government remote access
to individual’s computers and phones.
In
the past, law enforcement was required to obtain a warrant from a
judge within the jurisdiction where the proposed search was going
take place. Under this new system, however, if an individual is using
technology to conceal their location, the warrant is considered valid
regardless of jurisdiction. A single authorization will have the
potential to validate millions of searches on private devices. Any
journalist, activist, or whistleblower who values privacy and uses
tools like Freenet or the Tor network will fall directly into the
crosshairs.
As
USA Today summarized, the rule change was “sought by the Justice
Department, adopted by the U.S. Federal Courts, and approved on April
28 by the Supreme Court without much fanfare.”
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