PogoWasRight.org

Menu
  • About
  • Privacy
Menu

EFF Urges Citizens, Websites to Fight Rule Changes Expanding Government Powers to Break Into Users’ Computers

Posted on June 21, 2016June 26, 2025 by Dissent

Changes to Rule 41 Will Greatly Increase Law Enforcement Hacking, Surveillance

San Francisco—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Tor Project, and dozens of other organizations are calling today on citizens and website operators to take action to block a new rule pushed by the U.S. Justice Department that would greatly expand the government’s ability to hack users’ computers and interfere with anonymity on the web.

EFF and over 40 partner organizations are holding a day of action for a new campaign—noglobalwarrants.org—to engage citizens about the dangers of Rule 41 and push U.S. lawmakers to oppose it. The process for updating these rules—which govern federal criminal court processes—was intended to deal exclusively with procedural issues. But this year a U.S. judicial committee approved changes in the rule that will expand judicial authority to grant warrants for government hacking.

“The government is attempting to use a process designed for procedural changes to expand its investigatory powers,” said EFF Activism Director Rainey Reitman. “Make no mistake: these changes to Rule 41 will result in a dramatic increase in government hacking. The government is trying to avoid scrutiny and sneak these new powers past the public and Congress through an obscure administrative process.”

Right now, Rule 41 only authorizes federal magistrate judges to issue warrants to conduct searches in the judicial district where the magistrate is located. The new Rule 41 would for the first time authorize magistrates to issue warrants when “technological means,” like Tor or virtual private networks (VPNs), are obscuring the location of a computer. In these circumstances, the rule changes would authorize warrants to remotely access, search, seize, or copy data on computers, wherever in the world they are located.

“Tor users worldwide could be affected by these new rules,” said Kate Krauss, Director of Public Policy and Communications for the Tor Project. “Tor is used by journalists, members of Congress, diplomats, and human rights activists who urgently need its protection to safeguard their privacy and security—but these rules will give the Justice Department new authority to snoop into their computers.”

The changes to Rule 41 would also take the unprecedented step of allowing a court to issue a warrant to hack into the computers of innocent Internet users who are themselves victims of a botnet, EFF and its partners said in a letter to members of Congress today.

EFF and its partners launched noglobalwarrants.org, a campaign page outlining problems with the changes to Rule 41 and listing over 40 Internet companies, digital privacy providers, and public interest groups that support the project. The coalition is asking website owners to embed on their sites unique code that will display a banner allowing people to email members of Congress or sign a petition opposing Rule 41. The groups are also calling on citizens to speak out against Rule 41 on social media and blogs. The aim is to send a message to Congress that it should not authorize this expansion of government hacking and must reject Rule 41 changes.

For the coalition letter:
https://www.eff.org/document/rule-41-coalition-letter

For noglobalwarrants.org:
https://noglobalwarrants.org/

Related posts:

  • Is EFF defending corporations from people whose lives have been RUINED, like attorney Carrie Goldberg claims? Part 2 (EFF’s Response)
Category: AnnouncementsLawsSurveillance

Post navigation

← Can the previous owner of your security camera spy on you? Webcam privacy scare highlights Internet of Things security difficulties
Tech Companies Fight Back After Years of Being Deluged With Secret FBI Requests →

1 thought on “EFF Urges Citizens, Websites to Fight Rule Changes Expanding Government Powers to Break Into Users’ Computers”

  1. Ariel says:
    June 26, 2016 at 9:00 am

    There is a Spanish version which is a translation of the original noglobalwarrants.org/ site here:

    https://es.vpnmentor.com/blog/fight-rule-41/

    Please share with your Latino users 🙂

Comments are closed.

Now more than ever

Search

Contact Me

Email: info@pogowasright.org

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Germany’s top court holds that police can only use spyware to investigate serious crimes
  • Flightradar24 receives reprimand for violating aircraft data privacy rights
  • Nebraska Attorney General Sues GM and OnStar Over Alleged Privacy Violations
  • Federal Court Allows Privacy Related Claims to Proceed in a Proposed Class Action Lawsuit Against Motorola
  • Italian Garante Adopts Statement on Health Data and AI
  • Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system with Big Tech’s help
  • Attorney General James Takes Action to Protect Sensitive Personal Information of Tens of Millions of People

RSS Recent Posts on DataBreaches.net

  • Connex Credit Union notifies 172,000 members of hacking incident
  • Federal judiciary says it is boosting security after cyberattack; researcher finds new leaks (CORRECTED)
  • Bank of America Refused To Reimburse Georgia Customer After Hackers Hit Account. Then a News Station Showed Up.
  • NCERT Issues Advisory on “Blue Locker” Ransomware Targeting Pakistan’s Key Institutions
  • Scattered Spider has a new Telegram channel to list its attacks
©2025 PogoWasRight.org. All rights reserved.
Menu
  • About
  • Privacy