House to offer bill blocking government hacking powers

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Tuesday will offer the companion to a Senate bill blocking a Justice Department request to expand federal hacking powers.

{mosads}At issue is a proposed amendment to little-known criminal procedure rules that will take effect in December unless Congress acts.

The Senate legislation, a one-page bill from a bipartisan group led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), would prevent those changes to what’s known as Rule 41.

The changes would allow judges to grant a single warrant for multiple electronic searches in different locations — even when investigators don’t know the physical location of a device.

The feds argue broader search powers are needed to keep pace with the rapidly progressing technology that criminals use to mask their identities online.

But civil liberties advocates — and some tech companies — are horrified by the proposal. Allowing multi-district, multi-computer searches, they say, would allow the government to conduct bulk hacking with very little oversight.

“When the public realizes what is at stake, I think there is going to be a massive outcry: Americans will look at Congress and say, ‘What were you thinking?’” Wyden wrote in a Medium post announcing his legislation.

Poe is joined by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), as well as House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.).