FBI Computer Searches Expanded Under New U.S. Supreme Court Rule
- Judges can approve computer search warrants without a location
- Senator vows to overturn rule he says undermines privacy
FBI Agents on August 16, 2014, investigate the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown at the location where he was killed on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri. Vandals attacked stores in Ferguson early August 9, hours after police said the unarmed black teenager was a robbery suspect. The allegation reignited anger in the town, a St. Louis suburb in the state of Missouri, that has endured on-and-off rioting since Brown was killed on August 9. AFP PHOTO/Joshua LOTT (Photo credit should read Joshua LOTT/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty ImagesThe U.S. Supreme Court adopted a rule making it easier for the FBI to access computers remotely when their locations are unknown, a move privacy advocates say gives the bureau the power to hack into thousands of computers.
The change Thursday lets judges issue search warrants for computers that may not be located within their jurisdictions. U.S. officials have portrayed the change as a common-sense administrative revision that’s needed because criminals increasingly use technology to hide their true locations.