Mi pare nuovo lo scenario implicito di controllo delle botnet: per un governo è più vantaggioso sfruttarle che chiuderle. A quando la "botnet di Stato"? <https://theintercept.com/2016/12/01/expanded-federal-hacking-authority-goes-...> As of December 1, it is considerably easier for the FBI to hack into computers during investigations. Thanks to a federal rule change, which passed through several judicial panels before being approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in April, FBI employees can now seek warrants from magistrate judges to remotely access computers even when targets might be outside those judges’ districts, including when the targets’ location is disguised by anonymity software like Tor. Additionally, FBI employees can now search computers infected by malware that makes them part of a botnet — a method used by criminals to disrupt internet service, distribute spam, or spread viruses on a mass scale. The argument over the modifications, while described by the Department of Justice as simple amendments necessary to facilitate investigations in the modern age, has been contentious. Privacy advocates like Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called the impending rule change “one of the biggest mistakes in surveillance policy in years” as he fought on the Senate floor the day before it was scheduled to take effect, joined by colleagues Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Steve Daines, R-Mont. “Law-abiding Americans are going to ask ‘What were you guys thinking?’ when the FBI starts hacking victims of a botnet hack. Or when a mass hack goes awry and breaks their device, or an entire hospital system and puts lives at risk,” he said in a statement. [...]