Computer Privacy?

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The FBI soon could get the power to hack any computer, anywhere thanks to a new under-the-radar US Supreme Court decision.

A slight change to what is known as Rule 41 makes it easier than ever for Uncle Sam to do an end-run around the Fourth Amendment.

“Under the proposed rules, the government would now be able to obtain a single warrant to access and search thousands or millions of computers at once; and the vast majority of the affected computers would belong to the victims, not the perpetrators, of a cybercrime,” US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said of the action in a press release. “This is really a big issue when you’re talking about expanding the government’s hacking and surveillance authority.”

The Supreme Court approved the tweak to Rule 41 — part of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure – late last month. The changes would allow a federal judge to issue a warrant authorizing the FBI agency to hack into a computer or smartphone anywhere in the US.

Under the current rules, federal judges and magistrates generally can only issue warrants within their jurisdiction. Under the new rules, a federal judge in New York could issue a warrant for an agent to hack into a computer in California.

The ruling by the Supreme Court came not in a typical court case but as part of the judge’s annual overview of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, The Atlantic reported.

“These are complex issues involving privacy, digital security and our Fourth Amendment rights, which require thoughtful debate and public vetting,” Wyden complained.

The senator accused the court of making law by proposing the change. The new rule will go into effect December 1 unless Congress overturns it.

“Substantive policy changes like these are clearly a job for Congress, the American people and their elected representatives, not an obscure bureaucratic process,” Wyden said.

Google, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation had written a letter to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, opposing the proposed change, Newsweek reported. Google argued the change would be a “substantive expansion” of the government’s search capabilities and would “authorize remote searches of millions of computers.” Significantly, the new rule allows the FBI to search any computer that is damaged or infected with malware, which one estimate placed at about 30 percent of all computers nationwide, Google claimed.

“[This] raises a number of monumental and highly complex constitutional, legal, and geopolitical concerns that should be left to Congress to decide,” Google wrote.

From <http://www.offthegridnews.com/current-events/supreme-court-just-allowed-the-fbi-to-hack-into-any-computer-anywhere-at-any-time/>

This article discusses the new law giving authority to the FBI all over the United States. This article was clearly biased only giving the viewpoint of the reasons that this is a bad idea. I found it interesting that Google participated in this debate voting against this new law. I think there are very sensitive issues surrounding this law. I understand that this could help the government find criminals but it also violates the privacy of its citizens.  This is a difficult situation. I found it interesting that it was mentioned that this was a place for Congress to decide. This leads to the thought that it was a different governing body that made this decision. I find this interesting that such a controversial thing could be decided by a lesser authority. 

A Weekend of Building Collapse

Infrastructure, Legal, News

May 1, 2016

A member of the Kenyan security forces coordinates the search for survivors of a collapsed building in Nairobi. Severe traffic jams delayed rescue teams trying to reach the scene. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

A Six-story building in Nairobi collapses killing 12, injuring 132 . Cause of collapse was attributed to “heavy rains”. Since when did it become LEGAL for heavy rains to cause the collapse of buildings? Another three-storey building in Mumbai, India collapses most of the Victims are believed to be construction workers who were involved in the building repair works.

In Nairobi, Kenya, the Red Cross said 150 building units and adjacent homes were affected. Rescuers could hear voices of five people trapped in the building and said it would be difficult to remove the concrete slabs using heavy machinery without endangering those stuck in the rubble, said nominated legislator Johnson Sakaja.

The building didn’t have an occupancy permit, which is a government requirement for all buildings, said Stephen Oundo, the chairman of the National Construction Authority. Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet ordered the owner of the building to surrender himself to the police for questioning.

Jacob Kiruma, who said he lived in the house adjacent to the building that collapsed, said the structure had been built in less than five months and the 126 single rooms were quickly occupied at a rent of $35 a month.

Area legislator Stephen Kariuki said this was the second building to collapse in a year and blamed the county government of failing to follow through with demolitions of buildings that were identified as unfit for human habitation.

Since when did it become LEGAL for heavy rains to cause the collapse of buildings? … Or an ongoing road excavation a reasonable explanation for collapse?

Taking advantage of a high demand for housing in Nairobi, some property developers bypass building regulations to cut costs and maximize profits.

The heavy rains have caused other fatalities. Four people died when a wall collapsed Friday in the affluent Hurlingham area and two people drowned when they were swept away by floodwaters in the capital’s industrial area, said Mr. Koome, the Nairobi police chief.

Mumbai: Five people have been rescued and some are still feared trapped under the debris in R S Nimkar Marg. Source: Express photo

Report in Mumbai, India has it that SIX people died and two others suffered injuries after the collapse in Kamathipura on Saturday. The building, named Gulmohar, was over a hundred years old and was undergoing repair work, which was being overseen by the MHADA, a Building company.

Though the building was listed as a residential building, as per MHADA’S records no one was living in the building. MHADA officials said that there was a restaurant on the ground floor and a few embroidery workshops on the floors above. Onlookers said that the building completely collapsed in a matter of minutes. “There was a loud crash and the next thing we knew, the building was gone in less than five minutes. The locals and some NGOs in the area rushed to help the people who were trapped inside,” said Moinuddin Siddique, a resident of the area.

A majority of the eight rescued are believed to have been construction workers who were involved in the repair work of the building. “The people who were in the building when it collapsed include four brothers and their nephew. They had been working at the building for a month and a half and also lived there,” said Arjan Mullah, a relative of the family.

Despite being over a hundred years old, the building, as per MHADA’s records was not declared dilapidated. The repair work of the building was being funded by MLA Amin Patel who has raised questions over the inspection of the building by the MHADA officials. “If an engineer is not able to determine whether a building is dilapidated or not, what kind of an inspection is being carried out? A probe will be carried out and the persons responsible for this will be penalized,” said Patel. The work order for the repair work of Gulmohar building, which was supposed to continue for the next eight months, was issued on April 28.

The MHADA insisted that the building did not show any cracks or signs of being in a dangerous condition. “We had conducted a visual inspection of the building and had not found the building to be dilapidated. The building had a conventional structure with load bearing walls and wooden beams. There were no signs of the building being dilapidated,” said Sanjay Jadhav, the in-charge executive engineer of MHADA. Next question for all will be how come it collapsed, suddenly?

Dr S.A Oloyede, Covenant University, Ota, opined that a building, once properly constructed is expected to be in use for a very long time. Although every society has its own problems and Nigeria is not an exception yet the very recent challenges of buildings collapsing in various locations have been giving the various arms of government and the people of Nigeria sleepless nights in view of the enormous loss of huge investments in housing, properties and human life. The major challenge on the issue of building collapse is that individuals differ radically from one another on the professional to blame as the major cause of the collapse of a building.

First, building experts blamed building collapses on the use of low quality building materials coupled with employment of incompetent artisans and weak supervision of workmen on site. Second, findings revealed that the blames of building collapse were due to non-compliance with specifications/standards, use of substandard building materials and equipment and the employment of incompetent contractors. Third, opinion of the academia on remote causes of building collapse showed that the route causes are mainly the non-enforcement of existing laws and endemic poor work ethics of Nigerians at large. In addition, government all over the world should, on one hand, embark on proactive steps by mustering enough political will to allow the Town Planning Authorities to perform their functions unfettered and on the other hand, provide the legal framework that can improve and ensure smoother, less time-consuming and less burdensome ways to conduct business in the functioning of law courts.

From <http://www.nta.ng/news/infrastructure/20160501-a-weekend-of-building-collapses/>

"A Weekend of Building Collapse." 

NTA News. N.p., 1 May 2016. Web. 2 May 2016.

From <http://www.easybib.com/cite/view>

Response :

This article is about recent building collapses in various places around the world. The author is very biased against the building manufacturers of that country. I found this article interesting especially with my background of growing up in a country in Africa. In this country, when the heavy rains come, buildings get damaged. Usually roofs will fly off or walls will come down, and sometimes even more damage occurs. These things are just natural. I would never equate this damage to these buildings being poorly built.  It’s a new way for me to look at this. Now in my country there aren't very many six story buildings to fall down which is why it isn't such a major thing as these recent collapses. Because of my background I thought this author was being rather harsh, but now I see that this is a big deal. Lots of rules are being violated and it is resulting in death. This is something that government need to take care of. Not only do the countries mentioned need to follow up on these rules but other countries need to do it as well to ensure that these types of tragedies do not happen to them. This was an interesting article to read.