The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced the tools they used to get PlayPen members convicted was not malware. After refusing to disclose the methods use when ordered to by a judge, a lot of the FBI’s evidence was thrown out. Despite all of that, law enforcement officials continue to deny their network investigative technique uses malware.
FBI Still Refuses To Provide Proof
The issues between the FBI and PlayPen convicts is far from resolved, as judges continue to offer contradicting rulings. One judge in Virginia ruled how the case against PlayPen member Edward Mathis should stand, regardless of how the evidence was gathered. Not too long ago, a different judge ruled against using FBI evidence in a similar case; the law enforcement agency refused to disclose details.
But the FBI is still not proving any insights as to how their network investigative technique works. One spokesperson told the media on Wednesday how they are not using malware, yet failed to provide any evidence to back up these claims. While no one is asking them to explain everything from a to z, some insights would be more than welcome.
Mathis, who will not have the case against him dismissed, felt he was being coerced into signing a statement detailing his crimes. However, the Virginia judge ruled there was no evidence to support these claims. However, there is the question of how the FBI obtained the evidence against this person, as well as the 134 other PlayPen members.
Revealing the true IP address of a Tor user is next to impossible with an exploit or malware. The FBI’s network investigation technique managed to do exactly that, albeit many feel the warrant for taking down PlayPen did not give them the legal right to use the malicious or illegal software.
This investigation may come around to bite the law enforcement agency in the rear, though. In a previous case, the FBI revealed the source code of their NIT tool. While this software does not alter security settings of target computers, the lines are blurring as to which part of that explanation suddenly makes it alright to deliberately infect consumer devices.
Source: Ars Technica
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