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@fuck the FBI
Amen! The end doesn't outweigh the means here. Better to set a precedent that ensures that private computers are not accessed in any way without a warrant and just accept the consequences of living in a free country.
A better solution-- tell all your friends and family to install some damned AV software, a firewall, and install software updates. And if your work or school is not securing their PCs properly, speak up!
The FBI has no business interacting with ANYONE'S computer!
In the U.S. we don't realize the power we give to our law enforcement agencies. Even less to we seem to understand that once they have the power, it's much more difficult for us to get it back. As time goes by and we relegate more and more of our responsibilities to the "authorities," how much longer will it be before we resent them for "creating" a police state? Here we are, at a digital cross-roads, and though I applaude the F.B.I.'s efforts on my behalf, and their creative solution to this persistent threat, how much more authority/control will we give them? How much more authority should we give them?
Regrettably, this has all the hallmarks of a scandal in the making: The laudable success with dramatic results; the request for an extension to capitalize on the momentum and take the fight to the bad guys. Ultimately, however, an agent will cross the digital divide and extract information from a target pc and this rightful win will become a P.R. nightmare.
I support all our law enforcement agencies in their efforts to protect us. The individual agents and officers sacrifice so much for our safety. However, the tools are there for us to protect ourselves. Maybe because those tools are not as tangible as guns citizens don't realize the power they possess.
At some point, we need to be responsible for our own actions, or the actions of those things under our control, like computers and mobile devices. Like guns, the tools are available for us to protect ourselves from all but the most recent threats, and even the most recent threats are resolved and eliminated with every patch/update/hot fix/service pack/ etc. Maybe those tools aren't as flashy or as shiney cold steel spitting hot lead down range, but they're just as effective at detering criminal activity. If this is a war of attrition, the criminals won't win, but they will do their darndest to capitalize on small victories. If people are ignorant enough to allow malware to persist on their systems without any reasonable effort to eliminate it, they deserve to be fined.
So, hooray for the F.B.I.'s efforts and I'm happy they succeeded. Let's leave the policing of the internet to the Chinese and allow our citizens to police themselves. Written notifications should tell owners their personal computers were implicated in a federal investigation. That notification alone should be enough to prompt most, if not all, to clean their systems.
This is probably the only situation where I am okay with what they did. Most readers probably already know this, but Microsoft already does this in their own way via the Malicious Software Removal Tool that installed with Windows Update.
It seems every day I read about some school, small business, charity, etc that fell victim to these bottom feeders of society having their bank accounts drained. If this saves an American business from the grief of having their accounts drained this is a good thing
I wonder if those voting against are the very people who spread bots.
I think we have to accept that there are a lot of people online with limited skills and knowledge, who need all the help they can get.
I dont think its a case of many of these people wishing to stay infected. they have no idea they are in the first place.
Clearly there is a risk that removing any infection from a PC may have an adverse affect
so maybe a simple YES / NO popup warning on the screen that people must click on to exempt thr authorities of liability for any problems caused by removing any infections
However
I believe the authorities in any country should be able to clean up infected PCs without permission, for the greater good of all
Sure there is a small risk that removing an infection could cause a problem
but that risk is much smaller than the risk posed to the rest of us by those with infected PCs
And Providing that it all they do
they must not use the cleanup as an excuse to go snooping around in your files