DOJ rule passively changes this Thursday, dec 1; using tools like VPN or anonymizers like Tor could land you on a watch list for exploratory scanning by the FBI.
[49 Points] MDMangel:
[41 Points] blockmains:
Fuck America even more. This shit country is just detriorating every single goddamn day
How is it legal for FBI to hack into millions of civilian computers while it is illegal for a civilian to hack into a piece of shit FBI computer? Oh yeah, national security..... bite my ass.
Sometimes I wish niggas like ISIS would wipe FBI and a lot of the government out just for fucks sake
[15 Points] None:
We need to overthrow a lot of government agencies
[12 Points] DNMFTW:
I don't see it mentioned, but part of the information that Snowden released revealed the existence of a program called "X-keyscore" that already made it possible rather likely that you can be condered of interest by the NSA; how this connects you to being monitored by the FBI is better explained in https://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-likely-targets-anybody-whos-tor-curious/ (both from C|Net in 2014, but references data about data collected by German citizens from 2012 (English version of article from Das Erste, similar to USA's NPR, so a legitimate news source) explaining further.
This legislation OP references simply expands on the ease of obtaining warrants or the possibility of warrantless searches simply based on the very horribly overbroad term of art "Mens Rea" - lit. "Criminal Mind." In short - since well longer than many realize; the NSA has considered those who even heard about "this browser that opens pages that end in . onion" and logged on out of curiosity alone to be considered as having the necessary element of many crimes of intent.
I will openly admit computer security is not my strongest point, but it underscores the importance of not just counting on Tor alone as a reliable-enough way to stay private. Starbucks, VPN, whatever separates your own name from the IP you connect to initially, namely: don't connect via your home network ever for any reason because that alone is "adequate", and has been for about as long as anoymizing services and the NSA have existed.
I'm not saying OP is not bringing important news, as this does make a change. On the other hand, it also isn't necessary to overreact and start nuking laptops from space. It is not in itself a crime to access the Tor. It is also important to remember that drug smuggling is certainly way up there on the list of things they look for. And the NSA is unbelievably indexed and cross indexed in ways that a career DB admin or forensic computer analyst would raise their eyebrows by the level of technical capabilities.
Although I really cringe a lot at the legal advice tossed about here with many oft-repeated inaccurate "safe vs unsafe" actions - the keynote is we all have rights and the constitution still applies - what this does is allow for picking of fruit of the poison tree and I project there will be a tremendous amount of support for it as we soon reach an era with all three branches of the government being a conservative majority: the type who tend to cling to this. Add to the mix just how broadly the current computer crimes act can reach due to how massively behind technology legislation is as a whole - hell, weev went to prison for doing little more than if he had guessed someone's myspace page by typing in their commonly-used online handle.
Pardon my wordy response, but this is a topic near and dear to my own heart, I really don't do much on the darknet nor use drugs much at all anymore... a norco binge here and there; (I was excited for recent minor oral surgery even); I bought a G of etiz a year and a half ago and maybe a third od it has been used and a good bit of that given away or spilled, the rest for sleep. However, I just double-checked and it turns out this is what I care about for a living. We all have a legal right to our voice and nearly every senator or house member will respond to letters from their constituents; positively with enough pressure. They have to; if we don't like them, they lose their job, gerrymandering or not.
I encourage people to learn how to make their voices heard as we come to a very dangerous administration, congress, and judicial system that - and this is not at all a generic slam at any political party or ideology, simply fact - when it comes to what laws will and won't pass during the next 4 years. We are presumably all adults here, and since our schools do a dismal job of teaching civics; I feel we owe it to ourselves to start to research how to do more than spread bad news. I unfortunately am not able to be active on this subreddit, but I will speak to the mods soon and ask if I might write a primer of sorts on how to effectively voice our opinions to those who we elect to speak FOR and not TO us in an effective manner. SOPA was killed by those voices; we can do much more than we believe. I wish I had known this 20 years before I learned (I am old.) No matter what anyone's political belief system may be - we do all share a belief that we should have the right to make our own decisions and utilize our right and ability to make these beliefs known, especially in these coming years.
[5 Points] mcbirdman12:
As it seems like we're slowly losing ground in our privacy from government control, we have very little options to fight it. One of the only things we can do is write our congressmen! It may sound stupid or pointless, but they do read letters. They may have not even noticed (or honestly cared this was happening) and a letter from a concerned citizen could make them get interested. It's better than just sitting around letting our government fuck us!
[4 Points] None:
That just means use public wifi right?
[5 Points] RIP_Meth_9000:
BTW....9000 been on some sort of list since the 80's :-) (True Story)
[4 Points] burger44:
..
[3 Points] speedfleek:
Is there a way to configure Tor to appear as normal internet activity to my ISP without comprimising anonyminity or creating a more unique digital footprint?
[3 Points] YouCantBanMe44:
EVERYBODY. CRAIGSLIST, FIND THE OLDEST PC YOU CAN LIKE EARLY 2000S. RIP THE HARD DRIVE OUT, DOUBT IT HAS A WEBCAM OR MIC BUILT IN ITS SO OLD xD
Format it, and then rip the hard drive out, only boot it from tails, at a public wifi. Do your deeds. You should be as safe as you always have been.
This is fucking bullshit.
If anybody gets arrested for petty shit like browsing dnm, or just using tor, or a little hash or bud or something for personal use. We need to pop off. We need to fucking revolt again, against this fucking shit government.
Love thy country, not thy government. A revolution IS coming people. The people WILL NOT stand for this much longer. History repeats its self.
[3 Points] cnile_:
I might be worried if the FBI wasn't completely incompetent.
[3 Points] KingHonky:
What I can't figure out is why you're now worried about the FBI looking into your computer after having illegal shit sent your your home. I worry much more about intercepted packages than the doj looking through my laptop. Not trying to be a smart ass, just my thoughts.
[2 Points] None:
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[2 Points] None:
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[2 Points] None:
some 1984 shit
[1 Points] drugfreekid:
This is old though, they already monitored all people who googled tails, this is just more bs laws. Fucking government.
[1 Points] mrbillburroughs:
[1 Points] weedandsyrup:
deleting and destroying cpu very soon
[1 Points] hypnagoggle:
It also wants to treat anything that anonymizes internet users or hides their locations to be presumed acts of a guilty mind.
I don't see how anyone can reasonably make this conclusion by looking at the actual proposed change. Don't get me wrong. The change is serious, and privacy advocates have cause for concern. But the above statement is a slippery slope argument made by the techdirt writer being passed off as fact.
Let's look at the actual text of the proposed rule change, from here: https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/proposed-amendment-rule-41.pdf
First change:
(6) a magistrate judge with authority in any district where activities related to a crime may have occurred has authority to issue a warrant to use remote access to search electronic storage media and to seize or copy electronically stored information located within or outside that district if:
(A) the district where the media or information is located has been concealed through technological means; or
(B) in an investigation of a violation of 18 U.S.C. ยง 1030(a)(5), the media are protected computers that have been damaged without authorization and are located in five or more districts.
Second change:
For a warrant to use remote access to search electronic storage media and seize or copy electronically stored information, the officer must make reasonable efforts to serve a copy of the warrant on the person whose property was searched or whose information was seized or copied. Service may be accomplished by any means, including electronic means, reasonably calculated to reach that person.
Nothing else changes. The authorities still have to get a warrant and go through the same approval processes. The same oversight (or lack thereof) is in place. Where in this text can you see that the DOJ will treat users of privacy tools any differently than they did before?
Call me jaded, but I think the authorities will do what they want anyway, and figure out how to make it work with the law later, as they tried to do with those high profile illegal porn cases. And parallel construction has been around for a long time now.
What I'm saying is: I don't see how your chances of getting on some list for using Tor, a VPN, or other privacy technology changes if this goes through. If you're doing illegal things using these technologies, you already know there is risk involved.
[1 Points] None:
Can they touch you if you live outsite of Europe?
[1 Points] SvampebobFirkant:
What does this mean to people outside the US?
From the article:
"acts of a guilty mind"??? What do they mean? Like 'thought crimes'!? Is history repating itself? This is just as bad as Nazi's burning books.
This is bad y'all. OpSec has never been more important than it is right now.