Starting tomorrow December first, the Feds can hack millions of devices using vpn\tor with one warrant, the IRS will be trying to identify cryptocurrency users, the Tor browser has an unfixed vulnerability that "could" id users, and to top it off Britian signed the Snooper Charter which allows them to hack foreign targets, if they feel like it.
Have a look at the changes that were just slid in while everyone was distracted by the whining about Trumps victory.
Game over: New US computer search law takes effect Thursday
David Kravitz
"By sitting here and doing nothing, the Senate has given consent to this expansion of government hacking and surveillance."
Those were the words Wednesday of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) as he failed to convince fellow senators to even hold a floor vote that could block changes to what is known as Rule 41 from taking effect Thursday.
Wyden was referencing an amended Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure, which originated from an unelected advisory committee and was signed by the Supreme Court in April. By rule, it becomes effective December 1. The measure clarifies the law allowing judges to sign warrants that let authorities hack into computers outside a judge's jurisdiction. The rule also gives federal judges the authority to issue a warrant to search multiple computers—even without knowing who is the targeted computer owner. Previously, some judges had practiced this, while others did not.
Here is the rule and amendments: https://noglobalwarrants.org/images/proposed-amendment-rule-41.pdf
Read the rest here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/11/new-us-law-making-it-easier-to-search-computers-takes-effect-thursday/
IRS to Coinbase: Please identify active US traders between 2013 and 2015
Cyrus Farivar - Nov 18, 2016 8:35 pm UTC
As part of an ongoing tax evasion investigation, the Internal Revenue Service has asked a federal court to force Coinbase, a popular online Bitcoin wallet service, to hand over years of data that would reveal the identities of all of its active United States-based users.
David Utze, a senior revenue agent at the IRS, wrote the following in a Thursday affidavit:
The information and experience of the IRS suggests that many unknown US taxpayers engage in virtual currency transactions or structures... Because the IRS does not know the identity of the individuals within the “John Doe” class, the IRS cannot yet examine the income tax returns filed by those US taxpayers to determine whether they have properly reported any income attributable to virtual currencies.
Specifically, the IRS seeks all such personal data of all Coinbase users who conducted a transaction between 2013 and 2015. (Full disclosure: such records would include this reporter, who briefly possessed a small amount of bitcoins in 2014 and sold them as part of our Arscoin story.)
Read the rest here http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/11/irs-to-coinbase-please-identify-active-us-traders-between-2013-and-2015/
Firefox fixes vulnerability that left Tor users exposed: FBI may be responsible
Mozilla Blog
According to Daniel Veditz writing on Mozilla’s blog, the company received the exploit code early yesterday — the same exploit was published on a Tor Project public mailing list by someone else soon after, making it publicly known. According to Mozilla, a Firefox bug allows the exploit to work, though the victim needs to load a Web page with malicious SVG and JavaScript code.
It is a serious vulnerability, with the exploit itself allowing spies or whomever else to collect both the MAC address and IP addresses of the victim. It’s not clear who is behind the exploit. However, Mozilla says it works in a manner very similar to the FBI’s network investigative technique for unmasking Tor users.
That has stirred up speculation that the FBI itself may be behind the exploit; or, perhaps, another government or law enforcement agency working from a similar foundation. As Veditz points out, anyone can now use this exploit to deanonymize Tor users who are running the vulnerable version of Firefox…meaning that even if the government did create this exploit in secret, it opened the doors for every other hacker and snoop in the world to do so, as well.
The Firefox vulnerability fix will be rolling out soon and will automatically be installed once available. If you use Tor with Firefox, avoid doing so until after you’re sure the fix (which is listed as critical) is installed on your system. As always, be sure to set up Tor properly to help avoid being detected.
It's official, the Snooper's Charter is becoming law: how the IP Bill will affect you
By MATT BURGESS
For the first time, security services will be able to hack into computers, networks, mobile devices, servers and more under the proposed plans. The practice is known as equipment interference and is set out in part 5, chapter 2, of the IP Bill.
For those not living in the UK, but who have come to the attention of the security agencies, the potential to be hacked increases. Bulk equipment interference (chapter 3 of the IP Bill) allows for large scale hacks in "large operations".
Data can be gathered from "a large number of devices in the specified location". A draft code of practice says a foreign region (although it does not give a size) where terrorism is suspected could be targeted, for instance. As a result, it is likely the data of innocent people would be gathered.
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/ip-bill-law-details-passed
It's bad enough to think of each of these things happening separately, but all at once across 2 countries is not a coincedence it is a plan. The US and UK governments just gave themslelves the "rights" to ID and hack anyone anywhere that uses security wisely, making every single computer network and user less secure. This is a massive attack on the worlds privacy and general network security, because these tools\hacks\backdoors will not stay contained for long.
Time to make some backups, this is gonna get ugly...