The Police are now allowed to hack into your private computer

[wraggster]

The power of anti piracy organizations is constantly growing and latest news from Great Britain sounds somehow scary: The Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.

The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws. The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room. Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging.

Under the Brussels edict, police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. The strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass over any material gleaned.

A remote search can be granted if a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime — defined as any offence attracting a jail sentence of more than three years. The authorities could break into a suspect’s home or office and insert a “key-logging” device into an individual’s computer. This would collect and, if necessary, transmit details of all the suspect’s keystrokes. The Home Office said it was working with other EU states to develop details of the proposals.

http://www.lucidlan.com/article.php?id=1605

[mike_jmg]

Bulllllls.....

[Auriman1]

The inevitable repercussion? Make the general population hate the police even more.

[irishwhip]

We members of the tinfoil hat brigade don't sound so silly now, do we.

Use your vote wisely at the next election.

[yakumo]

Sad...

[pkmaximum]

Wow this doesn't even effect me yet because I live in the USA. But damn this is complete bull shit, I can't even believe how far they will go to stop piracy unbelievable......

[Darth_Rience]

jesus what next hacking into are pcs an lookin at al ur private wrk doc's an photos.

[cal360]

Akeylogging program seems to go too far, though if it's to prevent crime it is useful, though I still believe it may be too far as to secretly hacking peoples computers.

[cornervizion]

Well I'm sure there will be one use of this to track potential terror suspects and child pornographers but what about the people who don't fall into any or either category? I know some people will say "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" But still the average persons privacy needs to be safeguarded.

[zillion94]

This is utter bulls__t! Yeah, of course the pervs won't trade pics of the hottest private family photos themselves as THAT is ok. We do live in a prison planet (there is a website of such a name with hauntingly accurate information), though most of us have leashes too long to notice.

I also hate when people equate privacy with secrecy... THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT! To those who say "I have nothing to hide" I ask if they close their blinds at night after they get home from work. When they say "Yes" I ask if it is due to doing something "wrong" or "naughty" like having sex on the kitchen counter... of course it's usually just watching TV or having dinner, but then they understand privacy. No one needs joggers outside stopping to look in our windows for the latest football scores, nor seeing us check our love handles in the mirror any more than we should one day allow police to interrupt our dinners just to have a look around.

I guess it's fine for the police to peruse our documents but if another officer reads over his shoulder THAT will be considered rude and impolite.

[warfaren]

Worst bullshit i've ever heard! And now, how are we gonna be able to tell if we're being legally hacked by a police officer, or a hacker that is up to no good? I mean if we find any suspicious behaviour on our pc...

[juiceface]

First off, the police can't just magically click a button and hack your computer; they have to use some sort of known vulnerability. So they possibly will be able to 'hack' computers that are not completely patched.

Second off this is why we should encrypt everything! Encrypt all files and communications on your system. Police aren't likely to leave you a note on your desktop asking for your encryption keys once they are in.

They may be allowed to try, but if you take the right precautions that you should already be taking you won't have to worry about much.

[apex05]

I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to the authorities "asking" the developers of firewalls to create a backdoor that they can legally have access to when they need it. Then if anyone says they don't have a tv, the tv licensing can use a search for people watching iptv. The fact is this is the kind of thing the government does try to push through

[watupgroupie]

I have a whole computer setup with a and ipcop linux app that all of my connections go through before reaching me. And I'm just an average joe, I imagine these piracy fanatics they are going after got a little more than that. And even if you do get in and you think there not going to detect a keylogger running you're an idiot.

[jaws365]

that is not funny shit.

[dejkirkby]

I very much doubt this will be used to combat piracy. I reckon it has more chance of being used to combat terrorism.

[Qmark]

Wow this doesn't even effect me yet because I live in the USA.
Just wait.

[Mischa]

Wow this doesn't even effect me yet because I live in the USA.

And what about the patriot act, thats even worse.

but back to topic..... When will we all wake up, when all the western states are police-states? This is not only about piracy... These are fascists acts. A higher force already can do with us what we want, plant some kind of Al-Qaida connections on your PC, and you are gone for life....guilty or not!!!!

And the worse think, people will always believe the newspapers (the majority), so if it says i was a terrorist, my neighbour would believe it. Do not give the State or goverment, or your so called queen to much power, they already have!!

When the time comes, i hope people will act, hopefully not to late. We should not be afraid of our goverments, they should be afraid of the people, more and more our freedom is took.

WAKE UP (but do not role into anarchie)

do with this what you want. I know what is going on.

[ojdon]

Also, it's worth noting that the police are only using this to crack down on "Cyber Crimes" Meaning, people who are major criminals such as pedophiles, Terrorists and Internet Fraudsters.

I really don't think they would be using this law on petty crimes like Piracy unless someone is downloading by the masses or distributing the downloaded illegal content.

And also I seem to remember someone mentioning that it mentions in one article that they can do this by breaking into someone's how and putting a key logging device in the keyboard or by someone downloading the attachment for the police to gain access to your PC.

[marc-bar]

that is not funny shit.

yes it is, seems no place are safe anymore these days

[trugamer]

Is it just me or has this been blown out of proportion by the author?

It seems to be just the ability for countries to request police hack individuals suspect of crimes, and the details to be agreed later shows there isn't much substance to the "routine" and "without a warrant" claims the author seems to believe.

And don't even get me started on the fact your computer should be secure anyway...

and how this evidence doesn't stand stand up in court...

and its only a proposal without having any of the many stages these things have to go through...

and how piracy isn't a "serious crime" and is picked up on by ISPs anyway...

[rikseaside]

Some people think if you have a supermarket loyalty card you are already having your privacy violated (presumably someone checks your buying habits and says "Ooh look, this chap regularly buys a lot of Kit Kats, we'd better inform the drug squad") but I think the police have got better things to do than hacking into everyone's PCs on the off-chance they find something dodgy (just think of the paperwork).

Although if they did they'd probably manage to find something incriminating on every PC on the planet, as we all know that connecting your PC to the internet is practically the same as wandering into a dirty video store with a megaphone and saying "please deliver one copy of everything to my house!";)

[Predator]

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Download HiJackThis (http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download) v2.0.2.

If you have never used this program it is great for spotting spyware and stuff like this, but be careful with this app.

BTW, this is not an advertisement.

[jarshale]

im gonna laugh my ass off when they try to hack the wrong guy and he traces it back to em and takes down their server.