On Thursday, the US Supreme Court approved a change to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. It sounds innocuous, but the effects will be felt around the world. Under today’s rules, US cops and FBI agents need to know where a computer is before they can get a warrant to directly hack the machine – because they have to ensure the judge and court they approach for the warrant has jurisdiction over the physical location of the computer. In other words, a district judge can’t issue a search warrant against someone or something outside her district. Under the proposed rule change [PDF] this geographical information won’t be needed and a single search warrant can be used to authorize American crimefighters to infiltrate any PC, Mac or other device anywhere in the world.
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ORIGINAL SOURCE: The Register
