Article 41 Article of the United States Penal Code will give the FBI the legal authority it needs to violate any computer, all over the world.
We first heard about Article 41 when the US Department of Justice published an updated version law's.
The change in Article 41 of the federal rules of criminal procedure grants the FBI much greater powers by virtually giving it the right to lawfully violate any computer across the country, and perhaps anywhere in the world, with only one search warrant that can be issued by any court of the United States.
So Google, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Demand Progress, FightForTheFuture, TOR project (The Onion Router), Private Internet Access and other VPN providers have joined forces and are trying to block the changes brought by Article 41.
“The US government wants to use a dark one procedure, to amend a federal regulation known as Section 41, effectively expanding their hacking authority,” the EFF reports.
"Changes to Article 41 will make it easier for them to break into our computers, retrieve our data, and carry out remote surveillance."
In last March, the Judicial Committee approved the proposed change from the Department of Justice, and then the US Supreme Court approved a change of article one month later, allowing law enforcement authorities with a warrant to hacking computers and phones anywhere in the world.
However, changing the Article does not stop here.
“[The article change] could also be extended to people who refuse the access to location data in smartphone apps because they don't want to share their location with ad networks,” the EFF warned in April.
The change of law will come into force by 1 in December of 2016 if it does not stop.
In a letter posted by Google, the EFF, and others are calling on Congress to "consider and discuss" the implications of the law change.
