Hopefully, you’ll never need to use anything you’re about to read; but, the sad fact is that the United States of America is becoming a Police State, when compared to free states like Canada. Therefore, unfortunately, it is appropriate to start acting as such – since there are least 4,450 federal crimes, the chances that you are guilty of a least one of them is highly likely. Consider, for example, the simple fact that using a fake name online or sharing your Netflix account are crimes under the broadly worded Computer Abuse and Fraud Act (CFAA).
I used those two examples to drive home the stark reality. Due to our digital surveillance state, all of the crimes that you have committed “online” or “on camera” are known (or could be known) to the over 100,000 federal agents AND the only thing stoping them from prosecuting you, sadly, is their limited time.
So let’s discuss how they spend their time. Before we went down the path of becoming a police state, there were far fewer federal agents and they didn’t do anything until someone complained to them about someone doing something illegal. If they found the complaint credible, they would investigate. This process took up all of the available agents time. (And when the did have spare time, they spent in on harassing civil rights activists or investigating congressmen for black files) Now, in the digital age, there is another activity for them to spend their time on, they try to prevent crime. And you should note that “crime prevention” is a purely police state activity because it is in direct opposition to our bill of rights.
No matter how their investigation started, their initial goal is to acquire enough evidence to get a judge to issue a warrant (arrest or search) against the subject. Most of the time they request a search warrant to obtain evidence to support an arrest warrant. In either case, your first notification that they’re investigating you usually arrives with them knocking on (or knocking down) your door. You should not that their intrusion lightly (i.e. “a simple misunderstanding”) and exercise your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and your Sixth Amendment right to counsel as soon as they try to talk to you. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to remain silent and demand a lawyer. You need to resist the natural human urge to co-operate and be cordial. The agents aren’t your friends and quite often they aren’t good people. They are zealots, pathetically committed to an erroneous sense of infallibility.
It’s important to remember the hurdles they had to surmount to be at your house. They had convince a judge that you are probably guilty of a crime AND that they have probable cause to believe that they will find evidence of that crime at your location. Therefore, there is absolutely no need for them to converse with you in any way, that’s why – under our Constitution – you are under no obligation to assist them in their search in any way AND I strongly suggest you enforce that right.
To help you in this defiance, I suggest you leave the premises because you do not have to be there. I understand the temptation to want to stay and watch the jackbooted thugs rummage through your belongings, but it is a waste of your time. Thugs do what thugs do. Remember, they are zealots who are already sure that you committed whatever crime they are investigating, it’s time to get a lawyer.