Judge denies FBI request to be able to listen to FB Messenger calls

[Clovis]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/facebook-cant-be-ordered-to-wiretap-messenger-calls-judge-rules/

A federal judge in Fresno, California recently denied prosecutors’ request to force Facebook to wiretap voice calls by suspected gang members conducted over Messenger.

According to a Friday report by Reuters, despite already having substantive traditional wiretaps and intercepting Messenger texts between alleged MS-13 gangsters, the government wanted further access.

Pretty pleased about this. It's nice to see there's still some vestige of privacy left.

[Sableye]

eh with the traditional phone system being replaced more and more by VOIP its not too long before congress goes ahead anyways and closes that loophole, still the fbi keeps doing this where they have overwhelming evidence from other more legally sound avenues but still pursue a case on legally shaky grounds to potentially expand their powers.

[Clovis]

It's more complicated than that though, because, at least on Android devices, one can sideload APKs, so something like Telegram could be used even if the service got banned officially.

[Sableye]

its not so much as banning specific services as it is developers being forced by the law to accommodate law enforcement.

[Clovis]

I get that, but what I'm saying is that people will always be able to find APKs of a working version somewhere, even if the Play Store are forced to drop certain apps. It's not ideal, but the Internet has helped as well as hindered freedoms for this reason.

[Provost]

I'm confused. Is this a matter of they need a warrant to wiretap Messenger, or they can't wiretap it period?

[proboardslol]

Also there's nothing stopping someone from writing their own. Shit you could write it in javascript in a web browser