• Home
  • Login
  • Register
  • Digital Edition
  • About Us
  • Staff
  • Obituaries
South Florida Times
  • News
    • Around South Florida
    • Black News
    • Local News
    • National & World
    • Caribbean News
    • Opinion
    • Prayerful Living
    • Black Catholic nuns: A compelling, long-overlooked service history

      Associated Press, May 6, 2022
    • Derek Chauvin appeals murder conviction for killing George Floyd

      S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022
    • Ray Charles, the Judds join the Country Music Hall of Fame

      Associated Press, May 6, 2022
  • Business
    • Florida Memorial University seeks return to good standing

      S. Florida Times, May 3, 2022
    • J&J suspends COVID-19 vaccine sales forecast

      S. Florida Times, April 21, 2022
    • High court opens door wider to malicious prosecution claims

      Associated Press, April 8, 2022
  • Finance
    • Insurance
    • Credit
    • Loans
    • Trading
    • Mortgage
    • Donate
    • 22 grassroots projects in Black and Brown communities win Mobilize Grants from The Carrie Meek Foundation

      Staff Report, May 2, 2022
    • No-cost support for small business owners

      Staff Report, January 27, 2022
    • Biden /Harris Victory

      Robert Beatty, November 7, 2020
  • Politics
    • State
    • Local
    • National
    • International
    • Elections
    • Debate Night in America: Muted Mics Could Interrupt Trump’s Style

      zenger.news, October 22, 2020
    • Trump or Biden: Venezuelans in U.S. Debate Impact of Presidential Election

      zenger.news, October 21, 2020
    • Fugitive Drug Dealer Captured Despite Plastic Surgery, New Identity

      zenger.news, October 20, 2020
  • Technology
    • Software Review
    • Hosting
    • Gas/Electricity
    • Small Business
    • VOIP Solutions
    • The hottest cars for 2022 The hottest cars for 2022

      S. Florida Times, January 27, 2022
    • Hertz order for Teslas ranks among biggest-ever EV purchases

      Associated Press, November 2, 2021
    • BROWARD App gives graduates virtual reality diploma

      S. Florida Times, June 20, 2020
  • Education
    • Classes
    • College
    • Degree
    • FIU
    • HBCU
    • High school
    • Online classes
    • Miami-dade
    • Students get to fast-track at Broward College

      Staff Report, February 10, 2022
    • FIU President Mark Rosenberg resigns

      Staff Report, January 27, 2022
    • Documentary tracks lives of Black Wisconsin students

      S. Florida Times, November 12, 2021
  • SoFLO Live
    • Chef Ire
    • Calendar
    • Entertainment
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Books
    • Music
    • Movies
    • SoFlo LiVE

      S. Florida Times, September 3, 2021
    • SUSTAINABLE, VERSATILE, GLOBAL, DELICIOUS: Honey’s got buzz

      Associated Press, March 1, 2020
    • 5-YEAR-OLD DRUMMER garners attention, college scholarships

      Associated Press, March 1, 2020
  • Health
    • Kids Nutrition
    • Health Jobs
    • Insurance
    • Weight Loss
    • Pet Health
    • ‘Jazz Fest’ set to deliver the flavor of New Orleans

      S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022
    • An elegant, kid-friendly dessert for Mother’s Day

      S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022
    • Recipe for Mother’s Day: French Toast Casserole

      Associated Press, May 6, 2022
  • Special Sections
    • Hurricane Guide
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Back To School
    • Black History
    • Business & Finance
    • Martin Luther King Jr.
    • Mother’s Day
    • Season of the Arts
    • JOURNEY INTO JOURNALISM a black woman books it

      Associated Press, March 13, 2020
    • Right to Vote focus of Spoken Soul Festival

      Staff Report, March 13, 2020
    • Stokely: A woman’s day is every day

      CB HANIF, March 13, 2020
  • Blogs
    • Beatnik24

‘Jazz Fest’ set to deliver the flavor of New Orleans

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022

An elegant, kid-friendly dessert for Mother’s Day

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022

Recipe for Mother’s Day: French Toast Casserole

Associated Press, May 6, 2022

Joy as Muslims mark Eid

Associated Press, May 6, 2022

Interfaith Trolley offering tour of religion in America

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022

Black Baltimore Database preserving digital memories

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022

Obituaries

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022

Harriet Tubman’s history in Maryland being celebrated

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022
Technology

U.S. at odds with Google on computer search-warrant proposal


SHARE ON:
Associated Press — March 13, 2015
By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON — A Justice Department proposal that could make locating and hacking into computers that are part of criminal investigations easier is raising constitutional concerns from privacy groups and Google, who fear the plan could have broad implications.

Federal prosecutors say their search warrant proposal is needed at a time when computer users are committing crimes in online anonymity while concealing their locations. But civil libertarians fear the rule change, under consideration by a federal advisory committee, would grant the government expansive new powers to reach into computers across the country.

The proposal would change existing rules of criminal procedure that, with limited exceptions, permit judges to approve warrants for property searches only in the districts where they serve. The government says those rules are outdated in an era when child pornographers, drug traffickers and others can mask their whereabouts on computer networks that offer anonymity. Such technology can impede or thwart efforts to pinpoint a suspect’s geographic location.

The Justice Department wants the rules changed so that judges in a district where “activities related to a crime” have occurred could approve warrants to search computers outside their districts. The government says that flexibility is needed for cases in which the government can’t figure out the location of a computer and needs a warrant to access it remotely, and for investigations involving botnets — networks of computers infected with a virus that spill across judicial districts.

“There is a substantial public interest in catching and prosecuting criminals who use anonymizing technologies, but locating them can be impossible for law enforcement absent the ability to conduct a remote search of the criminal’s computer,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in one memo explaining the need for the change.

The advisory committee considering the rule change is meeting this month.

The proposal has generated fierce pushback from privacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which contend the rule change could violate a constitutional requirement that search warrant applications be specific about the property to be searched. They also argue the proposal is unclear about exactly what type of information could be accessed by the government and fails to guarantee the privacy of those not under investigation who might have had access to the same computer as the target, or of innocent people who may themselves be victims of a botnet.

“What procedural protections are going to be in place when you do these types of searches? How are they going to be limited?” asked Alan Butler, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Another critic, Google, says the proposal “raises a number of monumental and highly complex constitutional, legal and geopolitical concerns that should be left for Congress to decide.”

Privacy groups are also concerned that the proposal would lead to more frequent use by the FBI of surveillance technology that can be installed remotely on a computer to help pinpoint its location. Such tactics caught public attention last year when FBI Director James Comey acknowledged that in 2007 an agent posing as an Associated Press reporter had sent to a bomb-threat suspect a link to an article that, once opened, revealed to investigators the computer’s location and Internet address.

“To the extent that the government has been prevented from doing lots of these kinds of searches because they didn’t necessarily have a judge to go to, this rule change raises the risk that the government will start using these dubious techniques with more frequency,” said ACLU lawyer Nathan Freed Wessler.

The Justice Department says such concerns are unfounded. It says the proposal simply ensures that investigators have a judge to go to for a warrant in cases where they can’t find a computer, and that the proposal wouldn’t provide the government with new technological authorities that it doesn’t already have.

It’s hard to quantify the scope of the problem, though the Justice Department says their concerns are more than abstract.

In 2013, a magistrate judge in Texas rejected a request to search a computer that the government said was being used to commit bank fraud but whose location was unknown. Prosecutors sought authority to install software on the machine that would have extracted records and location information.

The judge, Stephen Smith, said he lacked the authority to approve the search for a computer “whose location could be anywhere on the planet” but said “there may well be a good reason to update the territorial limits of that rule in light of advancing computer search technology.”

The proposal is before a criminal procedure advisory committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. If approved, it will then be forwarded to the Supreme Court and ultimately to Congress, which does not have to approve it but can block it. It would take effect in December 2016.

Next post 'Hands down' the best? White out to show he's top receiver

Previous post Obama to visit VA hospital, check progress on veterans care

Associated Press

About the Author Associated Press

Related Posts

The hottest cars for 2022 The hottest cars for 2022

S. Florida Times, January 27, 2022

Hertz order for Teslas ranks among biggest-ever EV purchases

Associated Press, November 2, 2021

BROWARD App gives graduates virtual reality diploma

S. Florida Times, June 20, 2020

No Comment

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

"Elevating the dialogue"Headline News

South Florida Times

Black Catholic nuns: A compelling, long-overlooked service history

Associated Press, May 6, 2022
News

Derek Chauvin appeals murder conviction for killing George Floyd

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022
News

Ray Charles, the Judds join the Country Music Hall of Fame

Associated Press, May 6, 2022
News

New YMCA partnership and facility announced

S. Florida Times, May 6, 2022
Local News

‘Tree of Life’

Staff Report, May 6, 2022
Local News

South Florida Times

The most influential African American weekly newspaper in South Florida

Beatty Media LLC

Follow Us

South Florida Times

3,061
followers
4,052
likes

Videos

South Florida Times

Home values for Black Families

Staff Report, March 23, 2022
Local NewsNewsVideos
Copyright 2020 Beatty Media, LLC.
↑ Back to top