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Comment by chatmasta | Hacker News Reader

Her name is literally Isis, and she is a core developer of Tor. If those aren't enough buzzwords to get the FBI swarming around her house, I don't know what is. I don't blame her for being paranoid, but I don't understand why she refused to talk to them at all. From the post it seems like she was okay with a phone call, but they wanted to meet her in person. So perhaps she was scared of being detained. That makes sense I guess, but if they really wanted to detain her, it would have been easy to do at the airport.

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> but I don't understand why she refused to talk to them at all

Talking to law enforcement is the job of your lawyer. If law enforcement refuses to talk to your lawyer, is it really that far-fetched to think they may want to do other things outside the bounds of the usual legal process?

I can't up vote this comment enough. Law enforcement are not your friends and they are not on your side. My very close friend's dad has been a cop for 35 years and he has told us this over the years. Want another opinion?

See this from a cop and a law professor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc

Having a lawyer makes you look guilty! /s

The author links to that video in the article, which shows that she's aware of the games that are played.

They're using bully tactics. Did they have to show up on her family's doorstep? No. Did they really have people watching out for her in five cities? No. Was there any reason they couldn't communicate through her lawyer? No. Did they have to speak to her in person? No. Do they have the right to circumvent her legal counsel (or make threats to do so)? No.

They're just playing mind games, like they're trained to do. Spooks gonna spook.

Yes. Also, unlike "ordinary" police, in the US it's a crime to lie to a federal agent. In her place, I'd be worried that I might accidentally say something that would give them leverage.

This++ I wish more people would know about this one fact than any other.

As others have pointed out, if they just wanted her expert opinion on Tor they could have had the phone call or submitted the questions to her lawyer, which is standard practice by the way.

There is a huge whiff of shadiness about how the agents were behaving. Maybe they had a good reason and just wanted her help, but everything screams watch the fuck out or end up like Aaron Swartz.

You should never talk to the police. Ever. They are never on your side.

I don't think she's being overly paranoid in the slightest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc

> I don't blame her for being paranoid, but I don't understand why she refused to talk to them at all.

One possible explanation: because "Don't Talk to the Police".

If she wants to find out what they want, then she's going to have to talk to them. Of course, she can terminate the conversation by invoking her miranda rights at any time.

Her lawyer should be able to do that just as easily.

No, if you want to find out what the police want from you, you direct them to talk to your lawyer, you don't talk to them yourself.

Can we all come live in your world? It sounds so much nicer than real life.

Absolutely false, she can ask her attorney what they wanted. It's actually great to see someone following best practices even when it is not the easiest thing to do.

Nope that is her lawyers job not hers.

Everything about this assumes the other side is acting in good faith. There are enough examples, and people formerly in the position of the other side saying the same thing, to make it overly risky to assume this. The incentives are not aligned to encourage law enforcement to make society safer, that's just a byproduct of what they are incentivized to do, which is identify people they can arrest and then do so. Usually this is because the person has broken a law, but that logic can be twisted in many ways depending on unscrupulous agents, or agents that wrongly believe they are doing the right thing even though there is no evidence. There are numerous links all along this thread of the now famous talk by a former law enforcement agent about why it's a bad idea to ever talk to law enforcement without a lawyer present. At a bare minimum, never put yourself in a situation where it's your word against the word of law enforcement, whether they are recording or not (they may misplace that recording, for whatever reason).

>If she wants to find out what they want, then she's going to have to talk to them.

That's one of the worst things one can do and really bad advice.

>Of course, she can terminate the conversation by invoking her miranda rights at any time.

That's already too late. Everything she already inadvertently said up to that point can be used against her.

So much naivety.

Good federal defense attorneys will tell you NEVER to talk to the government. EVER. Once you talk to them you're open to a wide litany of charges that they basically can make up if they don't like your answers (e.g., lying to a federal agent, conspiracy, etc.) Here's just one of many articles about it: http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/protip-never-willingly-tal... (BTW: I do think she is being a bit paranoid, but I don't think she should talk to them -- it only invites problems.)

Smearing people who work for Tor wouldn't exactly be the worse thing for the FBI.

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