DOJ Seeks Broader Search Warrant Authority to Combat Botnets

Paul Rosenzweig
Saturday, May 10, 2014, 12:21 PM
That's the report from Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post.  According to her: "The Justice Department is seeking a change in criminal rules that would make it easier for the FBI to obtain warrants

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That's the report from Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post.  According to her: "The Justice Department is seeking a change in criminal rules that would make it easier for the FBI to obtain warrants to hack into suspects’ computers for evidence when the computer’s physical location is unknown — a problem that officials say is increasing as more and more crime is conducted online with tools to conceal identity." I'd be interested in Orin Kerr's thoughts on this, but since he is on the committee that is redrafting the rules and responsible for responding to the DOJ request (a copy of which is here) I suspect he might not be able to blog the issue.  It would seem to me that the territorial requirements of current search warrant law don't match up to the non-territorial nature of the network.  To the extent we accommodate that reality while maintaining judicial control of the process, these types of changes seem sensible to me.

Paul Rosenzweig is the founder of Red Branch Consulting PLLC, a homeland security consulting company and a Senior Advisor to The Chertoff Group. Mr. Rosenzweig formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Department of Homeland Security. He is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University, a Senior Fellow in the Tech, Law & Security program at American University, and a Board Member of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy.

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