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CCIA Objects to DOJ's Rule 41 Revision Plan

An industry group objected to DOJ's proposal to alter the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41 to expand federal judges’ ability to issue warrants for remote searches of computers outside their jurisdictions, which has drawn privacy advocates' concerns. Congress has…

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until Dec. 1 to take action on the Supreme Court-cleared proposal or it automatically takes effect (see 1604290057). "This so-called procedural update raises complex technical, Constitutional, and geopolitical concerns,” said Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black in a Monday evening news release. “A substantive expansion of government hacking powers should not be done as a behind-the-scenes rule change -- its merits and drawbacks should be openly debated.” The revision “would grant legitimacy to practices that have yet to be found constitutional under the requirements of the Fourth Amendment,” said Black, whose group has members including Amazon, Dish Network, Google, Microsoft and Sprint according to its website. “A key requirement of a constitutional search is that it is focused on a known location with particularity. One problem is that a remote search inherently lacks those elements.” CCIA is “further concerned that by using hacking tools and remotely searching computers in unknown locations, it would be all too easy to search, intrude upon and even damage the security of foreign computers, which could violate international sovereignty and is currently the subject of robust Congressional debate,” Black said.