Sens Introduce Bill to Delay Expansion of FBI Hacking Powers

Five Sens introduced legislation to delay a controversial change to criminal search procedures that could allow the FBI to drastically increase its hacking operations. The legislation, proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee members Sens Chris Coons (D-DE), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Al Franken (D-MN), among others, would put a nearly nine-month pause on the new rule, which would allow a single judge to issue a warrant allowing police to hack into computers in multiple judicial districts rather than just the district in which that judge presides. Judges could also issue warrants to search a computer or device when the user has masked the device’s location under the new rule, an update to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) and committee member Rep Ted Poe (R-TX)