An advisory panel within the U.S. court system has recommended changes to procedural rules on the issuance of search warrants that would enable judges to approve more “remote access” searches of electronic media, prompting complaints that the changes would jeopardize privacy rights and that any such changes should be made by Congress, not a court advisory committee.
The Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure has recommended changing Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41, which currently prohibits a federal judge from issuing a search warrant outside the judge’s district, with some exceptions.
Under the proposed rule, a 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. Section 103(a)(5), the media are protected computers that have been damaged without authorization and are located in five or more districts.” Continue reading