A proposed change to an obscure federal rule could grant the U.S. government the power to search computers around the world. And Google isn't too keen on it.

The U.S. Department of Justice wants to change the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41, a rule that governs the issuance of search warrants. Currently, a federal judge cannot issue such a warrant outside of his district (with some exceptions), but the new proposal would change this in cases involving computers and computer networks.

See also: The only solution to the Equation Group is destroying your hard drive

Last week, Google filed a comment opposing the change.

The body of judges and lawyers that governs procedural rules on federal criminal prosecutions, the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure, is proposing the change at the request of the Department of Justice. It will consider public comments, including the one from Google.

Richard Salgado, Google's director for law enforcement and information security matters, detailed in a blog post why the company is opposing the proposed amendment to Rule 41.

Salgado aruged that the amended rule, which would let the U.S. government obtain warrants for searches of electronic storage media if their physical location is concealed through technological means, would "likely end up being used by U.S. authorities to directly search computers and devices around the world."

Salgado added the rule's terminology is too broad. For example, the term "remote search" is not defined, meaning it could involve the government hacking into computers in another country.

Google's position is that the changes to Rule 41 are too dramatic to be handled by a minor body such as the Advisory Committee. "The significant foreign relations issues associated with the proposed change to Rule 41 should be addressed by Congress and the President, not the Advisory Committee," he wrote in the blog post.

Recent events have strongly indicated that the U.S. government was linked to computer hacking in other countries. A powerful virus called Stuxnet, which was created to infect and attack Iran's nuclear facilities, was reportedly connected to the U.S. and Israel. Last week's report from computer security company Kaspersky Lab revealed a sophisticated, global cyber-espionage program called the Equation Group, with strong ties to Stuxnet, and thus likely with the U.S. government.

[Update: 2-19-2015 5:15 PM]

A spokesman for the Department of Justice gave Mashable this statement: