The Electronic Frontier Foundation isn’t known for shying from its principles, even in the most controversial of debates. Take, for instance, the FBI’s use of “Network Information Technique” malware to decode the IP addresses of Tor browser users logging into the child porn site Playpen. In the EFF’s estimation, warrants to deploy NIT allow the “type of sweeping authority” the Fourth Amendment “was designed to precisely prevent.”

I recently caught up with EFF attorney Andrew Crocker to discuss the controversy and how it fits into a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit deeming a NIT warrant unconstitutional, but allowing the evidence to be used on the basis that investigators were operating in good faith by assuming their actions were legal. Here’s some of the highlights from our chat.