US Government (FBI) Arguing it can Hack Anybody, Anywhere outside of USA

[Eriol]

The title says it all: US says it can hack into foreign-based servers without warrants

Umm, wtf? This is... scary.


Didn't put this under an NSA thread, as (amazingly) it isn't them arguing this in court, mainly because I think they're already doing it and not bringing people to court, and thus not caring about admissible evidence.

 

[Dave]

Tonight on "When Technology Outpaces Laws"...

 

[Covar]

Based on the jurisdiction of the constitution they may not be wrong. There's a whole lot of court cases going on right now dealing with the jurisdiction of servers and their geographic locations. For a while the general practice was that a governments jurisdiction on data only applied to data stored within their borders. There are actually several European countries used that idea to pass laws requiring that their citizens data must be kept within their borders.

Now the problem is we're starting to get issues where judges are issuing rulings for the entire world and Not accepting geographic location of data

It's a pretty complex issue that has a long ways to go before it gets resolved.

 

[Eriol]

@stienman - the problem with what you say, is that they're also hacking anywhere they feel like it, even if there is no prior known connection to a US resident. This means that if they wish, they can get information from anybody, anywhere, and use that as "leverage" legally.

For example, with the Apple hack with pictures. If a US agency had done that EXCLUSIVELY against a foreign server, and only against non-USA people, and then emailed each and every one of them saying "you'd better tell us who you know that deals drugs, or else we'll publish the photos" that would be 100% legal, because it's not residents of the USA. That's what I mean by "leverage". We're back to the early days of the FBI and Hoover's infamous "book of dirty secrets" he had on everybody.


THIS IS FUCKING TERRIFYING. The "it's not us" because you live there is not enough. People should not be breaking into systems or whatever else without a declaration of War or something similar. This is NOT OK for governments, or individuals.

 

[PatrThom]

I'm conflicted whether to post The Dude or Ian Malcolm in this slot.

Authorities have increasingly turned to non-targeted drag netting rather than the usual "probable cause" methods of investigation.
This is not the way to instill trust, and society will suffer for it.

--Patrick

 

[Zappit]

But your hooooooonor - Russian teenagers are already doing it! And the Chinese are already doing it! And we waaaaaaaaanna do it, too! It's not fair!