Plenty of Bitcoin users use Tor to access the Internet and deep web. Up until now, there was nothing particularly wrong with that, but a new ruling may change that scenario altogether. If this ruling is to be approved, any federal magistrate judge can issue a search and seizure warrant for anyone who uses Tor or similar software to remain anonymous on the Internet. Using Tor Might Become “Illegal.”
A lot of consumers will argue that someone who has nothing to hide would have no need for anonymous software solutions such as Tor . However, given the limited number of privacy-centric options to browse the World Wide Web, Tor and consorts are becoming more and more popular every month.
Unfortunately, that success has not gone by unnoticed, as the US Supreme Court has approved a rule change that will shake things up like never before. By granting every federal magistrate judge the right to issue a warrant for anyone using Tor, anonymity on the Internet may become a serious offense. Moreover, if the US Congress does not undertake action to fight this ruling, it will go into effect as soon as December 2016.
As a result, the FBI can then legally search computers running Tor remotely, even if they have no idea where the machine is located, or what it is being used for. Simply having anonymity software installed on a computer would be reason enough for the FBI to investigate that user to “combat cyber crime.”
This ruling approval comes on the heels of media headlines detailing how over 1 million consumers use Tor to access Facebook . For every single illegal use case for anonymity software, there are hundreds, if not thousands, legal ones. If this ruling gets approved, a lot of innocent users will be spied upon by […]
