Throw away account (does not do much good with modern AI and ML). But here goes.

I am a US citizen (never left the country) and I always vote Republican. Down-vote away!

The FBI came to my house in October 2021. Two special agents (one of which I knew from prior IT Security engagements) and a 'Threat Assessment' Police Officer from the local police department.

They asked me if I was an Islamic extremist/terrorist. I am not. I am not religious at all. I am an IT security practitioner and amateur cryptographer.

I once used Tor for remote network security assessments and to maintain my privacy. I ran Tor hidden services (as experiments) and posted code showing best practices on how to do this without revealing the clear-net IP address. I no longer do this. I believe that is one reason I was targeted.

I have written one-time pad software and other cryptographic tools that may be used to evade IP/Cellular network meta-data analysis and tracking. I believe this is another reason I was targeted.

The agents told me that I was considered a threat and an extremist because someone had used my home network to search for Islamic extremist videos. I have not done this. And, to my knowledge, none of my family members have done this either.

I am not sure why this happened. I may never know. But I do know that true end to end encryption is critical to maintaining our security and privacy (assuming end devices are not compromised already). That is a big assumption IMPO.

Now, I also encourage people to not use Tor. I feel it is backed-doored and mostly controlled by Nation State actors to identify 'interesting' subjects via meta-data analysis alone.

That's my story. I hope you all do well.