On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 01:45:50PM -0700, Alan wrote: > On Fri, April 25, 2008 12:56 pm, Karl Cunningham wrote: > > > > One thing I wonder... A search warrant is related to criminal activity, > > but the only BSA action I've heard about is civil. They're getting the > > judge/police to prosecute a civil matter. > > > > Karl > > They're getting the police to enforce a court order. > If you are sued in civil court, then the court will take action to make > sure you cooperate. > Usually the police show up at your door when 1) you simply ignored all the > legalese in the letter the BSA sent you and they got a court order to make > you pay attention or 2) you actively defied the BSA by not cooperating in > discovery, by not allowing an audit for example.
A company I worked for ten years ago got raided by the FBI, and some Sheriff's Department from the Bay Area (we were in San Diego!) on the say-so of some "high tech consortium" that was 95%+ funded by a very large, very well-known computer manufacturer. Nobody had received any letters or threats... these guys showed up, told everyone to put down their phones and leave the building, and started seizing stuff. I missed all the fun... I was up in LA looking at some new office space for an engineering group. Money and political influence can make just about anything happen, right or wrong, legal or illegal, moral or immoral. You have the option of bankrupting yourself in court against an opponent with effectively unlimited resources if you believe their actions are unjust. This is one of the many reasons why less government is always preferable to more. Government is made of people, with human fallibilities and corruptability. It's extremely common to see FAA bureaucrats retire with a fat government pension, and then suddenly become a "consultant" for airlines. Or members of "high tech crimes strike forces" who wind up taking employment with huge computer companies. Let this BSA nonsense be exactly what it is... a civil tort between two equal parties, with no ability for one to use legally-sanctioned force against the other. -- *********************************************************************** * John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ * * * *********************************************************************** -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
