The Justice Department plans to ask Congress for new powers to break into private homes and businesses in a step-up against computer crime, but civil libertarians and privacy advocates fear making police break-ins common again, the Washington Post is reporting.
The paper says that, by the proposed "Cyberspace Electronic Security Act," Justice wants to be able to get in and disable security systems on personal computers in cases where child pornography, drug-related activity, terrorism, white-collar crime, and other offences are suspected.
Justice, says the Post, is "very concerned" about the rising use of software programs that encrypt computer files and make them inaccessible to law enforcement who lack a special code.
The proposal would let investigators with search warrants break into private property, search computers for passwords, and install devices to override encryption programs. After getting that permission, the Post says, agents would still need an additional green light from the courts to actually pull information from the computer files.
Civil libertarians and privacy advocates fear that extending what they call the "extraordinary power" to cases involving computer files would make police break-ins far more common - too common.
