The Federal Bureau of Investigation has beeg granted a terrifying new power that could represent the most massive overreach of their power since the days of J. Edgar Hoover. GovExec.com has reported that the FBI apparently has the authority now according to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, to access private computers without the owners’ consent or knowledge and delete software.
Scott Shackelford Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics writes,
“The software the FBI is deleting is malicious code installed by hackers to take control of a victim’s computer. Hackers have used the code to access vast amounts of private email messages and to launch ransomware attacks. The authority the Justice Department relied on and the way the FBI carried out the operation set important precedents. They also raise questions about the power of courts to regulate cybersecurity without the consent of the owners of the targeted computers.”
Here’s the kicker and what legal scholars are gobsmacked over; this staggering instance of legislating from the bench was carried out as…. (drumroll please….) a SEARCH WARRANT. Nope. Not kidding.
Where Does the Overreach Stop?
The scope of the FBI’s overreach and epic mission-creep is only outweighed by the BLATANT trampling of the Legislative branch by the Judicial in this case, gifting the Executive Branch (in the form of the FBI) of the Biden-Harris regime a ridiculous amount of power over American’s private property.
Alexander Urbelis, a partner at the Blackstone Law Group in New York and former acting CISO for the NFL told bankinfosecurity.com that although the FBI’s actions may be “well-intentioned” and “proactive”, but
“As minor as it is, it’s still a federal government law enforcement agency paternalistically accessing private servers and altering private data without any notice to the data controllers whatsoever,” Urbelis says. “The notice here is all after the fact, and that is a major problem.”
The change to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which Urbelis pointed to initially were made to battle botnet hacks and “remove procedural hurdles for cases involving child pornography online where the location of the perpetrators may not be known”. However, the road to hell is paved in good intentions.
In a world where deeply and genuinely held, traditional, conservative viewpoints can be (and often are) interpreted as “Hate Speech” and organizations founded to protect American values and religious freedom like the Alliance Defending Freedom are falsley branded as “Hate Groups” and “Extremists”; How long is it until the FBI is using this overreach to penetrate average American’s devices hunting for “extremist” or “hateful” content. This is a crystal clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. We live in a digital age, for someone to be secure in their “person” or “papers” they must be secure in their bits and bytes.
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America:The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
