A group of Senators are trying to prevent a Department of Justice rule change from taking effect, which could grant the government broad new powers to hack into people’s computers.
The Stop Mass Hacking Act was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday to block an expansion of government surveillance made possible by a tweak to federal court procedures.
The change to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procure would allow a magistrate judge, in cases where the location of a computer is unknown, to issue a warrant allowing federal agents to hack into the device to search or seize data.
It would also allow a judge, issuing only a single warrant, to grant authority to the feds to hack into a host of computers that may be used as botnets–devices hijacked with malware, being used in a coordinated attack.
Wyden’s legislation would stop the new rule’s implementation, which is currently scheduled to take place in December.
In a post on Medium Thursday, Wyden warned that the modifications to Rule 41 amount to more than an “administrative change.” The essay included a GIF of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” shaking his head—a nod to the initials of Wyden’s legislation “SMH” and the common internet shorthand to connote disapproval
“An agency with the record of the Justice Department shouldn’t be able to waive its arms and grant itself entirely new powers,” he wrote. Wyden said the appropriate place to seek these reforms is in Congress.
The senator also spoke of the unintended consequences of granting the government hacking access to computers suspected of being occupied by a botnet. “[T]he government will be treating victims of hacking the same way they treat the perpetrators,” Wyden said.
The department argues that the reforms are necessary to crack down on computer crimes. But beyond opening up victims of botnet attacks to government surveillance, the reforms could also implicate innocent individuals who use software that hides their location; common privacy tools such as Tor or VPN.
“Anyone who is using any technological means to safeguard their location privacy could find themselves suddenly in the jurisdiction of a prosecutor-friendly or technically-naïve judge, anywhere in the country,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation stated last month in a blog post urging action against the rule last month.
The Supreme Court approved of the changes to Rule 41 in April. Congress now has until December 1 to weigh in. Wyden’s SMH bill also has the support of Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
