The FBI stated Playpen contained some of the most extreme child abuse imagery imaginable as well as advice on avoiding detection.

At the request of the Justice Department, the U.S. Supreme Court in April proposed changing Rule 41 to bring it into the digital age by allowing warrants outside the district when the location is “concealed through technological means.”

Congress has until Dec. 1 to amend or reject the change — or do nothing, which would allow it to take effect. The American Civil Liberties Union and Google criticized the proposal as too broad and a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s safeguards against government search and seizure.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., warned, “This rule change could potentially allow federal investigators to use one warrant to access millions of computers, and it would treat victims of the hack the same as the hackers himself.”

While we are wary of Fourth Amendment abuses — indiscriminate wiretapping or similar Internet ploys — we don’t believe in allowing a refuge for pedophiles or other criminal activities on the dark web by virtue of an outdated technicality.