Tag Archives: Searches

“Keyword Warrants” – Feds Secretly Ordered Google To Identify Anyone Searching Certain Information, by Tyler Durden

Google is not “free” in any sense of the word. You’re the product and Google is under no obligation to hold your information confidential. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

An accidentally unsealed court document reveals that the federal government secretly ordered Google to provide data on people searching specific search words or phrases, otherwise known as “keyword warrants,” according to Forbes.

According to the report, the Justice Department inadvertently unsealed the documents in September (which were promptly re-sealed), which were reviewed by Forbes. In several instances, law enforcement investigators asked Google to identify anyone searching for specific keywords.

The first case was in 2019 when federal investigators were on the hunt for men they believed sex-trafficked a minor. According to a search warrant, the minor went missing but reappeared a year later and claimed to have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Investigators asked Google if anyone had searched the minor’s name. The tech giant responded and provided law enforcement agents with Google accounts and IP addresses of those who made the searches.

There have been other rare examples of so-called keyword warrants, such as in 2020 when police asked Google if anyone searched for the address of an arson victim in the government’s racketeering case against singer R Kelly. Then in 2017, a Minnesota judge requested Google to provide information on anyone who searched for a  fraud victim’s name.

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Police State in Slo-Mo, by Jeff Thomas

We can look forward to sudden, surprise iterations of the US police state, increasing in frequency. From Jeff Thomas at internationalman.com:

For many years, I’ve forecasted that the US will evolve into a police state; that it will begin slowly; then as more and more freedoms are removed, the creation of the police state will accelerate.

We’re now seeing that acceleration, as more and more Americans are detained, questioned, and having their property confiscated than ever before.

As an example, in 2016, some 20,000 travellers in and out of the US were stopped, often at random. Typically, their baggage was searched, their documents photocopied, access codes to their electronic devices demanded and their files copied. In most cases, no explanation was given, but they were advised that if the search was refused, they would be detained indefinitely.

The following year, in 2017, the numbers of people detained rose by 50%, to 30,000.

It’s important to note that the travellers were not threatened with arrest, which suggests that the authorities were working on the basis that the Patriot Act of 2001 allows all of the above activities—without cause being given, without a warrant being obtained, without access to a phone call or legal representation being allowed, and that the individuals in question may be detained, indefinitely.

This, of course, is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which states that people have the right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

However, when people travel, they are particularly vulnerable, so the travellers in question are extremely unlikely to refuse. They understand that, “indefinitely” means, “until a Supreme Court ruling is passed, overturning the Patriot Act as unconstitutional.” If it hasn’t happened yet and isn’t under consideration, it’s safe to say that the level of police state allowed under the Patriot Act is permanent.

Police States have been implemented countless times throughout history. They tend to be most prominent where collectivism has already been instituted.

To continue reading: Police State in Slo-Mo

Sexual Assault is a Crime … Except Sometimes, by Eric Peters

One of the more perverse notions of our time is that things which are blatantly immoral and illegal when done by private actors are fine and dandy when done by the government. Here’s an article about things we’d rather not think about, which means we should think about them. From Eric Peters on a guest post at theburningplatform:

Sexual assault is a crime… except when it’s done by an armed government worker (that is, a law enforcer).

How else to describe the horror visited on a South Dakota man named Dirk Sparks?

He was suspected of having ingested a “drug” arbitrarily decreed to be illegal by the same government that just as arbitrarily decrees other “drugs” to be legal – and when he declined to assist in his own incrimination by providing evidence that could and would be used against him in a court of law, was forcibly restrained, had his underwear pulled down, his penis exposed and handled – and catheterized – by armed government workers, who then extracted the urine sample they needed as evidence of his guilt.

He was later charged with two counts of “felony drug ingestion,” according to news reports.

What happened to Sparks is not an isolated atrocity performed by sadistic hillbilly cops. Under proliferating “no refusal” laws, if you decline to assist the government in establishing your guilt under DUI/DWI laws, the state has empowered itself to literally force the evidence (if any) out of your very body.

The federal government – through the National Highway Traffic Safety (run, when you hear that word) Administration – has been using “grants” (i.e., your tax dollars) to “encourage” (that’s their word, not mine) these “no refusal” checkpoints at which blood and other such boldly samples may be forcibly extracted from the victim.

A gauze of “legality” is provided by rubber-stamp search warrants issued on the spot (or via phone) by a compliant official. These are like the always-approved federal warrants delivered (in secret) by the FISA courts against alleged “terrorist” suspects. Basically, if the government wants to read your e-mails and obtain other such info, it’s going to get the go-ahead from the FISA kangaroo courts. Just the same, if a Hero at a DUI checkpoint is unhappy about your refusal to do roadside yoga or blow into a Breathalyzer machine, he can call Judge Rubber Stamp and then proceed to drop your drawers or jab a needle in your arm.

As in the movie, Deliverance – if they want your (blood/urine) they’ll take your (blood/urine).

It’s going to get worse, too.

Already has.

David Eckert was stopped for a minor traffic violation – not coming to a complete stop – and armed government workers subjected him to a forced anal cavity search, multiple enemas and colonoscopies – for which he was later billed.

No arbitrarily illegal “drugs” were found.

A Florida woman, Leila Tarantino, was similarly stopped by another armed government worker over a minor victimless affront to a statute – a “rolling” stop – and subjected to a sexual assault by the armed government worker, who shoved her hand inside Tarantino’s underwear, inserts her fingers into Tarantino’s vagina and forcibly removed the tampon (but no “drugs”) that was inside her.

To continue reading: Sexual Assault is a Crime … Except Sometimes