Network Investigative Technique (NIT) is a form of malware (or hacking) employed by the FBI since at least 2002.
[2] The FBI has to date, despite a court order, declined to provide the complete code[3] in a child sex abuse case involving the Tor anonymity network.
[5] Also, US District Judge Robert J. Bryan in Tacoma, Washington has ruled that while the defendant in United States v. Michaud has the right to review the code, the government also has the right to keep it secret (two other federal judges in related cases have ruled to suppress evidence found as a result of the NIT);[6] On May 25, 2016, however, he ruled that "For the reasons stated orally on the record, evidence of the NIT., the search warrant issued based on the NIT., and the fruits of that warrant should be excluded and should not be offered in evidence at trial..."[7] In March 2017 the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers released a 188-page guide to enable meaningful 4th Amendment analysis.
[9] The ACLU and Privacy International successfully litigated (see [18-cv-1488]) the release of U.S. sealed court records that revealed details about a NIT deployed in 2016 on 23 separate onion services of the Tor (network).
The sworn affidavit submitted by a Special Agent of the FBI (affidavit template formerly written by the NAIC) indicated the NIT had the following abilities: There is a growing list of government operations that are known to have used NITS.