Rule 41 (no, not that one) and what it means for us

[SWingedSeraph]

http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/mo...d-sorta-214040

So DOJ recently decided to create a nice little Catch-22 for people who use computers and don't want Trump seeing their dick pics... With these changes to Rule 41, any judge can issue a warrant for any computer anywhere, regardless of normal jurisdiction. This is really problematic. Here are the actual changes:

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.

The bolding is mine, and is the real source of the problem. The use of Tor, a VPN, or probably even SSL is now grounds for warranted surveillance, which includes malware-based surveillance. The cops can hack your machine if you use SSL.