Just-a-Guy
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Most of us don't live our lives prepared for the possibility that the government is going to come into our homes and look into every nook and cranny, not only physically in our closets and drawers, but also delve into everything we've ever stored on our computers, cell phones, and everywhere else.
IMO, a very significant percentage of people have things on their computers that they would not like others to see. Maybe they photograph kinky things in the bedroom. Maybe they have an unusual fetish that would raise eyebrows. Maybe they play an online game, like Second Life, and keep logs of their activities as they experiment with things they would never, ever try in real life. There are countless things people do that are not necessarily even illegal, but are very private.
These are the kinds of intimate things that are, suddenly, no longer intimate when something like this happens. I like to think that every parent of a missing child would throw their doors open and welcome LE to look wherever and whenever they need to... but what if you know you are innocent and that the police rifling through your collection of beast *advertiser censored* is going to do nothing to help find your child, and everything to make LE and the public waste time looking in the wrong direction?
What do you do then? I don't know. Maybe LE accuses you of not cooperating when you say, "No, you can't look at my computer disks".
I'm not saying this has happened. I'm just saying.
Very well said, and I agree, most people would not want the government poking into the deep secrets of their private lives. But...saying "No you can't look at my computer disks" will accomplish absolutely nothing, except having an officer stand there while another one goes and gets a warrant. And they will tell you that. And it won't take that long. I don't think that's what's happening here.
FWIW, I do agree, the woman spokesperson did sound a lot like a lawyer. Quite possibly a relative who happens to be a lawyer. She seemed poised and professional. I can imagine an scenario where if LE have been just a little too much "in their face" and such a person came in, with the confidence of legal training, they might say "You know what, leave us alone and go find the baby. We've told you everything we know for three days. Do your job and leave us alone." I can imagine that. I can also of course imagine many other scenarios. So I am keeping an open mind.
And going to bed now, like others, hoping to awake to good news.
ETA: Posting while I was writing, someone ID'd the spokeswoman. Her name is apparently Ashley Irwin. <modsnip>