BeatingUpwind on Nostr: Here's a curious "freedom" / "government intrusion" issue. I'm not quite sure how I ...
Here's a curious "freedom" / "government intrusion" issue. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it…
As I understand it, when the FBI takes down malicious botnets they sometimes get control of the botnet and use the botnet to stop all the computers in the botnet from being part of the botnet. That can include everything from just telling the infected computer to stop "calling home" to "botnet central" for instructions to using the botnet to install software on the infected computer that will delete the malware and better secure the computer from future attacks - ALL WITHOUT ANY NOTIFICATION TO THE USER.
Needless to say that means they could do some pretty bad stuff to you without you ever knowing. According to the article they're using the power of the botnet for good - and they do get a judge to sign off on it. But it's one warrant for thousands of computers and again - no notification to the user. There's very little actual oversight to ensure they aren't doing stuff like snooping on the users.
I usually give law enforcement a pretty long leash, but this whole thing makes me a bit uncomfortable. What's the likelihood an anti-porn administration might snoop on the porn viewing habits of people, or an anti-abortion administration might look for evidence of a woman having an abortion?
https://apple.news/A6HN6R6SANlqgbnN6Pr452g
#FBI #GovernmentSurveillance #botnets #malware #ethics #LawEnforcement
As I understand it, when the FBI takes down malicious botnets they sometimes get control of the botnet and use the botnet to stop all the computers in the botnet from being part of the botnet. That can include everything from just telling the infected computer to stop "calling home" to "botnet central" for instructions to using the botnet to install software on the infected computer that will delete the malware and better secure the computer from future attacks - ALL WITHOUT ANY NOTIFICATION TO THE USER.
Needless to say that means they could do some pretty bad stuff to you without you ever knowing. According to the article they're using the power of the botnet for good - and they do get a judge to sign off on it. But it's one warrant for thousands of computers and again - no notification to the user. There's very little actual oversight to ensure they aren't doing stuff like snooping on the users.
I usually give law enforcement a pretty long leash, but this whole thing makes me a bit uncomfortable. What's the likelihood an anti-porn administration might snoop on the porn viewing habits of people, or an anti-abortion administration might look for evidence of a woman having an abortion?
https://apple.news/A6HN6R6SANlqgbnN6Pr452g
#FBI #GovernmentSurveillance #botnets #malware #ethics #LawEnforcement