The Justice Department is firing back at Google for asserting that a plan to expand the FBI's hacking authority represents a "monumental" constitutional concern.
In a stinging rebuttal submitted this week, DOJ castigated Google, claiming that the search giant is misreading its proposal that would give judges more flexibility in how they can approve search warrants for electronic data.
"The criticisms appear to misunderstand what is at stake in the proposal," Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Bitkower wrote. "As the department has repeatedly emphasized, the proposal would not authorize the government to undertake any search or seizure or use any remote search technique not already permitted under current law."
Google's concerns, Bitkower concluded, are "premised on incorrect understandings of what the proposal would actually authorize or of current law."
Bitkower's reply is an attempt to answer concerns Google raised this month about the government's little-noticed attempt to change an arcane federal rule by petitioning a judicial advisory panel. Known as Rule 41 of the federal rules of criminal procedure, the provision generally allows judges to grant search warrants only within the geographic bounds of their judicial district.
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