New bill would delay impending changes to warrant rules

A bipartisan bill would delay controversial changes to search and seizure rules that would permit some forms of hacking by law enforcement.  

“Our bicameral, bipartisan legislation will give Congress time to do our job and carefully consider and evaluate the merits of these proposed changes to the government’s ability to search personal computers and other digital devices,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).

{mosads}Rule 41, the rule that governs searches, is set to change on December 1. The Review the Rule Act would delay the start date until 1 2017. 

Coons introduced the act alongside Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and  Reps. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Ted Poe (R-Texas).

The updates to Rule 41, backed by the Department of Justice and upheld by the Supreme Court, would allow justices to issue warrants to hack computers when the computer’s location is obscured by technological means. 

It would also allow a single warrant to permit hacking across five or more districts, which could be used to mitigate networks of hijacked computers called botnets, used to attack other computers or send spam. 

Civil liberties groups have roundly been against increasing the government’s ability to hack computers. 

“A single prosecutor should not have the power to hack into the phone or computer of virtually anyone in the United States,” said Lee in a press release.