#Search & Seizure

[shiftythrifting]

There were like 10 of these. Sadly they were empty

[lynaferns]

I spent like 5 hours yesterday (7 if I count the day before) looking at computer desks with my mother and-

My god are there functional computer desks anymore? For PC towers?

You can't bother to look at "gaming" stuff because it only looks pretty and futuristic but barely functions as a good desk, it's not even a good place for your pc tower, its just awkward to use 💀

Office furniture is usually better thought, but searching for desks I started to wonder if I was looking at tables or pieces of modern art that I'd find in a museum. They are like gaming desks but less neon lights.

Anyways I found a few good ones and decided for one.

[meimi-haneoka]

{drabble} I'm here - Akiho/Kaito

Alright, how do you do any of this...😂

I guess what you need to know it's that it is a Akiho x Kaito / YunaAki drabble, it's based on canon (set 3 weeks after the series ended), and it's based on the assumption that, differently from what the ENG translation said in ch. 80, in the JP Sakura affirmed that thanks to his stopped time Kaito wouldn't be hurting more than that...this means that his seizures would continue, just they wouldn't get worse than what we've seen till now.

This is mainly a hurt/comfort drabble, with glimpses of happiness. After all, Akiho is happy with him. And it's mainly a way for me to vent some complex feelings about the finale of Clear Card. I have a Kaito POV on the way (edit: here's the link, go read it after you finished this one!), but it's more difficult to write for him (and, uh, more depressing) so it'll come in the next days.

Easter egg: a line is a direct reference to the lyrics of Anata by Hikaru Utada. 😉

I'm not a native English speaker so forgive me if any line sounds weird!

Finally, I have to thank the "enabler" dandelion-stuff-and-fluff (not tagging in case you don't want to!) for giving immediately support to my whims! 😂

Excerpt:

I could feel the tears emerging, but I kicked all of them back, as I threw my 13-year-old self out of the window and summoned the part of me that helped me survive all these years. The resilient one.

Akiho's POV 

Three weeks had passed by, from that fateful night. 

Most of our stuff was packed, and our days were spent between checking everything for the imminent departure and hanging out with Sakura-san and the rest of the group, making the most out of the remaining time. Everyone was so lovely to us, showing all the support we needed. I really felt like I had acquired a family in Tomoeda, and the thought of it made me incredibly happy.  I was going to miss them so much. Just like I would miss this big mansion full of memories.... and mysterious protective forces, apparently, as I was told by him. 

Kaito-san revealed to me that when we came to Tomoeda almost one year prior, he had chosen this mansion specifically to protect me, as I was carrying a dangerous magical artifact that my own clan had engraved in me.  We talked quite a lot over the span of those three weeks, and swallowing the truth had been hard, at first.  But all of that was gone now and like waking up from a nightmare, the memories of it were getting more and more hazy as time went on. Only a permanent scar remained. 

Both of us were in the kitchen, cooking dinner. The clang of kitchen utensils, the sizzle in the frying pan made me strangely happy. It sounded warm. It sounded normal. I love cooking with him. This was the corner of the house where we declared to each other how much we cherished one another, without even fully realizing it. 

“Akiho-san, could you hand me the salt?”  “Here you go!” I said, smiling brightly at him.  He smiled back at me in that soft way that made my knees weak.  God, please, give me this for the rest of my life. Every day, immutably. 

“Done! We’re ready.”  Removing our aprons, we were getting ready to bring everything to the table. 

And then I saw it.  

He stopped in his tracks, his complexion paling by the second. 

Another one was coming.   My blood ran cold, and I rushed to the other side of the room, while he slowly crouched to the ground, out of breath, groaning in pain.   Each cry stabbed me in the chest like a knife. I could feel the tears emerging, but I kicked all of them back, as I threw my 13-year-old self out of the window and summoned the part of me that helped me survive all these years. The resilient one.   I hastily opened a cabinet and took out a finely decorated small box, toppling other items in the process. I didn't care.   Hiiragizawa-san had sent us, through a magic portal, a series of pills he made weaving a complex magic spell over them, to help Kaito-san cope with the seizures. He said they wouldn't do any miracle, but hopefully they could reduce the duration of the seizures and ease the pain a little bit. Cause the pain he was experiencing wasn’t caused by anything ordinary, and no ordinary medicine would’ve been effective. 

I grabbed a towel, flung it over my shoulder and ran back to Kaito-san with a glass of water, spilling some of it in the process. I watched him as he struggled to swallow both the pill and the water. 

How many times did he experience this excruciating pain, completely alone?   How many times did he force himself to not crumble down in front of me, to protect my peace of mind? Just thinking back to all the times I could feel something was not right, and how he tried to deceive me to keep dealing with it all alone.... it brought back in me an anger I didn't know what to do with.  

Yes, I didn't get over it yet. The wound was still so fresh.  But we agreed that we would’ve dealt with this together, from now on.  ...And just like that, the fit of anger quickly vanished, as a gentle feeling got a hold of me, and I began unbuttoning the collar of his shirt to let him breath better, then dabbing his damp forehead with the towel.   "It's okay.... it's okay... I'm here" I whispered softly, like a lullaby. 

As if surrendering himself to me, he held onto my arms and leaned over, trying to regain control of his breathing. I supported him, thanking in my head a hundred times that his time was halted. Yes, we were trying to look for a way to eventually make it flow again, but it was in moments like these that I remembered how numbing the fear to lose him again was.   I couldn't live with that. With that feeling of hollowness. Not again. 

That's why, I said to myself, this time I would've done anything in my power to not lose him, come what may. I wouldn't have spared any effort. Losing him would’ve been a hundred times more devastating than the pain I was feeling in that moment, seeing him in those conditions. After all, he was feeling like that because of me.  

“Momo...please give me strength”, I thought, missing my beloved bunny more than ever. Who knows how many times she had witnessed all of that, and how she dealt with it. I could’ve used some advice in that moment. 

His ragged breath became more regular, the pill was starting to kick in. He raised his head and looked at me.   Those eyes I loved so much, now covered by a mysterious dark fog - a remnant of the dragon appearance, as they explained to me – seemed to regain finally focus.  His face was so close to mine. In another situation, in another more oblivious period, there’s no doubt my heart would've exploded from embarrassment, red in the face like a tomato. But right now, I was preoccupied with something completely different, as I looked at him holding nothing but worry and sadness in my eyes. 

"I'm sorry...", he whispered. 

I could feel my heart catching fire, and it reminded how much I love him, despite being so hurt by his reckless behavior.  But I didn't answer to his apology. Cause that wasn't what I wanted to hear from him.

Instead, I asked him “can you stand up?” and helped propping him up when he nodded. We proceeded slowly towards the couch in the living room, where I helped him lying down. Despite having tons of lovely memories here, this house was starting to be a bit too big for us and for emergencies of this kind.  Hiiragizawa-san's pills had a sedative that inevitably caused Kaito-san to fall asleep, to recuperate. He looked so exhausted.  I arranged some cushions on the ground and sat down beside the couch, watching him closing his eyes and drifting quickly into sleep. I moved some of his hair to the side and dabbed the towel over his forehead one more time.   Then I went back to stare at his peaceful face, lost in thought. Was I truly prepared for this, when I decided that the life I wanted was this one? Probably not.  Would I have chosen anything else? Absolutely not.  Being with him is my happiness, after all.

[clazcy]

the personae & facets of mr. pilots (both of them) (this is solely about their characters) (the author of this post has did & understands it's a medical experience)

i already made my thing on tyler & the 3 of him (sort of about myself too but that's largely system based) but this will have more detail

(also first & foremost if you're in the seizure search for epilepsy block the #not epilepsy tag so my things will stop coming up. so sorry about that)

tyler tyler - host. author of the songs (mostly). the one we see performing, the son of nico.

blurryface - split from being seized by nico & the trauma that caused. author of goner from npi. bears nico's name but is also a 'blurry face' in the sense that he has no identity besides being controlled. therefore, he tries to control tyler/the body to cope. since he holds the dark thoughts of nico, he enacts those onto tyler. he is a persecutor.

clancy - ALSO split from the seizings but also off of blurry. different from tyler in the sense that's he's more violence focused, different from blurry in the sense that his anger is directed at the abusers. son[? or belongs to the district] of keons, in that sense. author of the album clancy & the letters. also a persecutor because he WILL take control to do whatever it takes to get his way (also he has significantly less of a moral compass).

okay josh

josh josh - this is josh <3 host like tyler & he is josh joshua william dun :) also the one who performs. we don't know his bishop.

spooky jim - same seizing split. however, as seen in choker & that one tweet, he also has some sort of power from this (this is not did canon compliant sadly :( ) & how he's using it depends on whether or not he's actively being seized/controlled (weaponized?). when he's not, it's for good, changing things to pink (happy fun colour!!!) etc. when he is, he's, well. he turned his loved ones into objects. i think this stems from insecurity of losing them (choker) vs changing things for the better (tweet, especially since tyler puts so much emphasis on changing hair to change/control self, it implies spooky was helping him regain control). i think this power is at least semi exclusive to spooky because it's blue, & the bishops use that as their :( colour.

torchbearer - re: clancy, but he's not violent. different path, leader of banditos et cetera. not free from anxiety, but significantly better at coping. i uh. headcanon he has the same power as spooky but uses it to light torches. that doesn't mean anything necessarily but i think it's cute.

questions this answers (kind of) & questions i answer

why is josh always blurry in photos?

a. this is tyler (collective) 's writing & i don't think he (in the story, as the character) realizes that josh is also collective. or

b. he does, but he (as clancy) doesn't see torchbearer (his only counterpart) as a person because he isn't violent. i feel like he's not ready to accept him.

c. something something psychosis they are one person all along fight club style. i hate this one (victim of forest fic) so i hope it isn't true.

who was the one in the trench mvs?

tyler i assume. he spent the longest in trench (within the collective) & has the most story with it.

who's the one in the overcompensate mv?

clancy boy

are there any more within the collectives?

probably not, since this is a story. however. the different facets/or outfits they wear/ways they sing you get it etc could also be different ones maybe. i don't think they are & if they are i doubt they matter as much.

i'm outta questions someone send me more so i can elaborate

[topazpearl]

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

IRS to go after executives who use business jets for personal travel in new round of audits

Private jets sit parked at Scottsdale Airport Jan. 27, 2015, in Scottsdale, Ariz. IRS leadership said

FATIMA HUSSEIN Feb 21, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — First, there were trackers on Taylor Swift and other celebrities’ private jet usage. Now, there will be more scrutiny on executives’ personal use of business aircraft who write it off as a tax expense.

IRS leadership said Wednesday that the agency will start conducting dozens of audits on businesses’ private jets and how they are used personally by executives and written off as a tax deduction — as part of the agency’s ongoing mission of going after high-wealth tax cheats who game the tax system at the expense of American taxpayers.

The audits will focus on aircraft used by large corporations and high-income taxpayers and whether the tax purpose of the jet use is being properly allocated, the IRS says.

“At this time of year, when millions of hardworking taxpayers are working on their taxes, we want them to feel confident that everyone is playing by the same rules,” IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said on a call with reporters to preview the announcement. Tax season began Jan. 29.

“These aircraft audits will help ensure high-income groups aren’t flying under the radar with their tax responsibilities,” he said.

There are more than 10,000 corporate jets in the US., according to the IRS, valued at tens of millions of dollars and many can be fully deducted.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed during the Trump administration, allowed for 100% bonus depreciation and expensing of private jets — which allowed taxpayers to write off the cost of aircraft purchased and put into service between September 2017 and January 2023.

Werfel said the federal tax collector will use resources from Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act to more closely examine private jet usage — which has not been closely scrutinized during the past decade as funding fell sharply in the last decade.

“Our audit rates have been anemic,” he said on the call. An April 2023 IRS report on tax audit data states that “continued resource constraints have limited the agency’s ability to address high-end noncompliance” stating that in tax year 2018, audit rates for people making more than $10 million were 9.2%, down from 13.6% in 2012. And in the same time period, overall corporate audit rates fell from 1.3% to .6%.

Mike Kaercher, senior attorney advisor at the Tax Law Center at NYU said in a statement that the IRS should also revisit how it values personal use of corporate aircraft, beyond just how flights are reported.

“The current rules allow these flights to be significantly undervalued, enabling wealthy filers to pay much less in taxes than fair market value would dictate, and it’s within the IRS’ authority to revise these rules,” Kaercher said.

Werfel said audits related to aircraft usage could increase in the future depending on the results of the initial audits and as the IRS continues hiring more examiners.

“To be clear, that doesn’t mean everyone in a high-income category partnership or corporation is evading or avoiding their tax responsibility,” Werfel said. “But it does mean that there’s more work to do for the IRS to make sure people are paying what they owe.”"

[lifewithaview]

Scott McCord in From (2022) A Rock and a Farway

S1E4

Julie finds comfort in her new friends as Jim and Tabitha deal with their struggling marriage. Ethan ventures off into the forest with Victor while Father Khatri urges Boyd to embrace his role as leader. Sara receives another horrifying directive.

*When Jim and Ethan Matthew's start eating pancakes, when it shows Jim, two males walk into the restaurant. When the camera switches to Ethan, and then back to Jim, the two males are seen walking in a second time.

[reflectionsofgalaxies]

i’m so in love with my friends. just saying.

[todaysdocument]

It’s Bill of Rights Day! Articles 3 through 12 were ratified on 12/15/1791, and became the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Article 2 became the 27th Amendment in 1992! 

Record Group 11: General Records of the United States Government

Series: Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress

Image description:

A zoomed-in portion of the document, reading:

No law, varying the compensa--

Congress shall make no law resp--

--asemble, and to petition the Gov--

A well regulated militia, bein--

Transcription:

Congress of the United States began and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. 

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. 

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz. 

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution. 

Article the first... After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons. 

Article the second... No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened. 

Article the third... Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

Article the fourth... A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

Article the fifth... No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

Article the sixth... The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

Article the seventh... No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. 

Article the eighth... In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 

Article the ninth... In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. 

Article the tenth... Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

Article the eleventh... The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

Article the twelfth... The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 

ATTEST, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives John Adams, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate John Beckley, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Sam. A Otis Secretary of the Senate

[sanddusted-wisteria]

A Builder, a Researcher, and a Rooftop, Ch. 26: Exigent Circumstances

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His hands couldn’t bring themselves to let go.

Also on AO3

------------

The door to the Research Center opened. It was two minutes later than Qi had predicted. His head snapped from whatever he was half-working on to the builder walking in.

“How are you feeling today?” He couldn’t keep the nervous edge from his voice.

“Not bad,” the builder muttered with a half-hearted shrug. “Still a little shaken.”

Qi nodded. They were only recently discharged. It made sense. On instinct, his hands reached out to cradle theirs as they approached his desk.

“Do you wish to discuss it with me?” he says gently.

The builder’s lips raised slightly in an attempt at a smile. “I think I’ll be okay. I just came to check up on you real quick.”

Qi stood up, looking deep into their dim, tired eyes. “D-do you want some tea, then? We…we don’t need to talk about anything.”

Their gaze flickered away. “N…no, thanks. Are…are you feeling okay?”

Qi felt his heart sink. “I’m alright. Your condition is of greater importance, though.”

The builder grimaced. “I…I just need some space for now. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“S…space?” Qi’s memory shuffled around to recall some passages from relationship advice books about the concept of “giving space” to one’s partner. Asking for space wasn’t a sign of a failing relationship, even though the extended period of limited contact might seem like it. Unless under extenuating circumstances, it was best to grant one’s partner space without much fuss if they requested it. So Qi nodded. “I will always be available, should you ever need me,” he murmured, trying not to sound overly disappointed.

His hands couldn’t bring themselves to let go.

The builder withdrew their hand from his. “Thanks.” They carefully wrapped their arms around him. “I won’t be gone too long.”

Qi delicately wrapped his arms around their waist, not wanting to disturb their injuries. At the same time, though, he wanted to savor this. Their last touch for who knew how long.

They pulled apart from each other, fidgeting in place as neither wanted to turn around and get back to what they were doing before.

“Be careful,” Qi whispered eventually. He hoped that the words carried as much weight as how much was pressing down on his heart.

“I will. I’m not gonna do anything super strenuous these next couple days.” A slightly more genuine smile lifted the builder’s lips briefly. They turned towards the door. “See you later, Qi-Qi.”

Qi stared at the door long after it had closed behind them.

He felt a dull ache in his chest. They’d only gotten more distant after the night they came back from the supposed dead. When he visited them in the clinic, their conversations were shorter. Qi figured that it was because there wasn’t as much to talk about, considering they had been stuck in bed day in and day out. But even after Dr. Fang gave them permission to return home, their visits to the Research Center never felt substantial. Just a brief greeting, maybe a cup of tea, a sparse conversation, and many distant looks and unsettled silences.

Qi could still sense some of the same joviality and affection from the builder, but they were all obscured by something else. Their focus lay elsewhere, and try as he might, it felt almost impossible for Qi to pull their mind away from it.

It felt disheartening in so many ways. It was usually so effortless for the two of them to become engrossed in something exciting together, be it an astronomical event, or analyzing a new relic, or performing experiments. As ridiculous and self-centered as it sounded, Qi almost felt like he was failing as their partner. Failing to engage them and give them some much-needed reprieve from the world.

It didn’t help that he wanted nothing more than to spend time with them. Even more than whatever he was working on. Even if it was only for less than a day, the dreadful knowledge that they were gone forever affected him more deeply than he’d ever thought possible. Had he been taking them for granted before? All the stargazing nights, all the little favors of power stones and hot food and tea, all the relics and inspiration and energy… Even if he hadn’t, he sure as hell wasn’t going to take them for granted now. Every moment together, every touch…he wanted to savor it.

Worst of all, the builder’s distance was only validating that insidious voice in the back of Qi’s mind: the one that whispered doubt and suspicion. Were they hiding something from him? Something about the circumstances of their “death”? The builder had carefully dodged most opportunities to talk about the situation. Perhaps only under the guise of needing time to emotionally process—

Qi furiously shook his head. No. They just had a near-death experience, for crying out loud. Who was he to try and doubt the veracity of their terror and injuries?

He picked up the electronic signaling journal that he was reading before, giving his mind something else to fixate on.

The builder would be fine. They just needed some time. Maybe this time apart could be good for him, too.

------------

Qi didn’t see them again for a week afterward. It had been an eerily quiet week. Once, perhaps, he would have wanted nothing more than one week straight without disturbances. But now, the silence almost felt stifling.

On the next Saturday after he agreed to give them some space, he wondered whether they’d be ready to see him again. He certainly was itching to see them.

He figured that they should approach him first instead of the other way around. Should he stop by their workshop to seek them out himself, they still might not feel ready, and might even be frustrated by the breach of their agreement.

So he waited for nightfall. He brewed some soothing herbal tea and poured it into the thermos. He grabbed their rooftop tea set and headed out and up. He sat down at their usual spot and poured himself a cup of tea, leaving the thermos open for when the builder would come. And then he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Qi held on until well past midnight, listening closely, jolting at every noise that sounded vaguely like a footstep.

But the builder never came.

The tea had gone cold.

Qi felt another ache ripple through him. Defeated, he poured the rest of his unfinished cup back into the thermos, gathered up the tea set, and stood up.

He looked out towards the builder’s workshop in the distance. No lights, no movement.

He let out a quiet sigh, descending the stairs with heavy steps.

Inside, he poured all the wasted tea down the drain and put everything away. He didn’t care that he still had some work he could do. He felt oddly exhausted all of a sudden, eyes droopy and head clouded.

He collapsed into bed, wrapping his blankets tight around him as he drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

------------

Qi was up on the roof.

Of course he was. It was Saturday. Oh, and he even brewed tea.

The builder eyed him carefully from the road below as they snuck up to Sandrock Storage. They’d purposefully gone the long way around to get there, past the Game Center and the path leading up from the arena. They knew he would be up there. So did Grace, they wagered. Why on earth she’d decided to schedule their operation tonight was beyond them.

How long had it been since they’d peered up at him on the roof from down below? The first time they’d seen him, they couldn’t help but think he looked lonely up there. It had pulled them up towards him, setting off a chain reaction that would bring them closer to him than they ever expected.

Tonight…he looked lonelier than ever.

Waiting for them. On the one night where they absolutely could not see him.

They felt a twist in their stomach. A part of them wished they’d broken their silence at least a little sooner. At least to give themselves a buffer before this mission to not have him occupy their thoughts as much. But they couldn’t stomach seeing him with all these secrets bursting from their seams.

What Grace and Logan had told them that day weighed on them constantly ever since they returned to town. And with no one to talk about their findings and what they meant for the people of Sandrock, that was all their mind could focus on. All day, every day. If they saw Qi, and let their guard down as they always did around him…they would crack. There would be no stemming of the flood of thoughts, and they’d inevitably spill out in front of Qi. They had no idea what would happen if their lips were let loose. And they’d rather not find out.

The door to Sandrock Storage was already open a tiny amount. It slowly swung open as they made the last couple steps. Grace was already inside, beckoning them in with a tiny flick of her fingers. The builder glanced up and down the empty street one more time. No one there. They looked back up at Qi one more time. He only stared at the landing of the stairs, taking a sip of tea. With another pang in their gut, the builder slipped through the open door.

Grace silently shut the door behind them. “All clear?” she whispered.

The builder nodded. “Only one out there’s Qi. And he’s only sitting on his roof. Probably waiting for me,” they whispered back with a grimace.

“Yeah…” Grace said with a vaguely guilty look. “Tonight’s just the best possible night with everyone else’s schedules. I had to bank on the fact that Qi probably wouldn’t notice someone creeping around behind him while he’s busy looking for you.”

The builder nodded and took a deep breath, trying to empty out any worried thoughts about Qi from their head. “What now?”

Grace pointed at an innocuous-looking bookcase in the back of the room. “The secret door should be over there. Try pulling that second box, if you please…?”

They moved over to the shelf and did what Grace asked. There came a click, before the whole bookshelf slid over to the side, revealing a massive vault door.

“And here we are…” Grace said from behind them. She pulled out the Anti-Lock and twisted it into the slot on the center of the door. Gears turned and clanked as the vault’s locks were undone.

“Hope it’s just something doofy and embarrassing in there, like Qi’s Old World cartoons…” said Grace.

The builder fixed her an unamused glare. “Er…n-no offense,” Grace backpedaled with a sheepish grin. She cleared her throat. “But seriously. The water levels from this place are always just a little off. If we’re gonna get to the bottom of this water business, whatever’s in there holds the answers.”

Beyond the door was a corridor. Old, worn stairs led down into the dark. Grace and the builder exchanged a look, and with a nod, they stepped over the threshold.

Down they went, Grace only illuminating a short distance in front of them with a carefully-aimed flashlight, as to not attract attention if anyone was ahead.

“How do you deal with all this?” the builder whispered as they walked.

“Hm?”

“All these secrets. It’s only been a week and I’m just about ready to explode holding it all in.”

They just barely saw Grace shrug in the dark. “You get used to it. Soon enough, holding all these top secrets doesn’t really feel special anymore. Hell, it doesn’t really feel like much of anything anymore.” She let out a barely-audible sigh. “It helps when you’ve got no one you trust enough to tell them to.”

The builder peered at her out of the corner of their eye. Her face was stony, staring straight ahead. They’d only seen that face one other time: at Logan’s hideout. So different from her sassy, half-ditzy, half-knowing grin.

As they descended further and further into the dark, Grace’s words stuck to the builder’s mind, and they braced themselves for the new tangle of secrets that lay ahead.

------------

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[aryshacore]

for all your hu tao gif needs

[reasoningdaily]

Photo by Zac Freeland/Vox

The government’s ability to access phone data depends on a patchwork of court decisions and laws that predate the technology.

Our lives are on our phones, making them a likely source of evidence if police suspect you’ve committed a crime. And there are myriad ways law enforcement can obtain that data, both externally and from the phone itself.

Companies that specialize in cracking phone passcodes and exploiting vulnerabilities are getting better and better at undermining them. And although Apple has tried especially hard to make its phones impossible to break into, more and more law enforcement agencies are using those tools to gain access to devices, even when someone is accused of relatively petty crimes.

While there are a few good primers online that cover the steps you can take to minimize your phone’s exposure to law enforcement surveillance, there’s no way to completely guarantee your privacy.

When it comes to data that can only be obtained from access to your phone, what law enforcement can actually get varies depending on how you lock it down, where you live, and the jurisdiction of the law enforcement agency that is investigating you (local police versus the FBI, for instance). Here are some of the main ways the government can get information from your phone, including why it’s allowed to and how it would do so.

Law enforcement wants access to third-party data on my phone. What can it get?

Short answer: Whatever it wants (with the right court order).

Long answer: Depending on what law enforcement is looking for, it may not need physical possession of your device at all. A lot of information on your phone is also stored elsewhere. For example, if you back up your iPhone to Apple’s iCloud, the government can get it from Apple. If it needs to see whose DMs you slid into, law enforcement can contact Twitter. As long as they go through the proper and established legal channels to get it, police can get their hands on pretty much anything you’ve stored outside of your device.

You do have some rights here. The Fourth Amendment protects you from illegal search and seizure, and a provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) dictates what law enforcement must obtain in order to get the information. It might be a subpoena, court order, or warrant, depending on what it’s looking for. (WhatsApp actually does a good job of explaining this in its FAQ.) A section of the ECPA, known as the Stored Communications Act, says that service providers must have those orders before they can give the requested information to law enforcement.

But, assuming the government has the right paperwork, your information is very obtainable.

“Basically, anything that a provider has that it can decode, law enforcement is getting it,” Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel for the ACLU’s speech, privacy, and technology project, told Recode.

Note that this only covers service providers. If law enforcement wants to get WhatsApp messages you exchanged with a friend from your friend’s phone, it doesn’t need a warrant as long as your friend is willing to hand over the information.

“You don’t have a Fourth Amendment interest in messages that have been received by someone else,” Andrew Crocker, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Recode.

If your friend refuses to willingly hand over what the police want, they can still get it — they just have to get a warrant first.

Law enforcement wants access to personal data on my phone. Can they do that?

Short answer: If your phone is protected by a passcode or biometric unlocking features, there’s a chance police can’t gain access to your personal data. But that’s not guaranteed.

Long answer: In addition to data hosted by a third party, there’s a lot of information that can only be gained from access to your phone. For example, the data in iCloud backups is only as recent as the last time you uploaded it, and it only includes what you choose to give it — assuming you back up your phone at all. Encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp don’t store messages on their servers or keep track of who is sending them to whom, so the only way for police to access them is through the sender’s or the receiver’s device. And as we’ve explained above, the government can get WhatsApp messages from the person you’re communicating with, but only if it knows who it is in the first place.

So how exactly would someone other than you — police, for instance — get access to that data? If your phone doesn’t have a password or law enforcement is able to access it using specialized passcode cracking tools like Cellebrite or GrayKey — and they have the necessary search warrant to do so — then it’s all theirs. A 2020 report from the technology and justice advocacy group Upturn showed that law enforcement use of these phone-cracking tools is more prevalent than previously known, and there is little oversight governing how and when those tools may be used, or what information they’re limited to accessing. But if your phone is locked with a passcode and law enforcement can’t hack into it, the Fifth Amendment may be your friend.

Essentially, the Fifth Amendment says you can’t be compelled to give self-incriminating testimony. (This amendment is perhaps known best to you as that dramatic moment on Law & Order when the person on the stand says, “I plead the Fifth.”) Testimony, in this case, is defined as revealing the contents of your own mind. Therefore, civil rights advocates say, the government can’t force you to tell them your phone’s password.

Most courts seem to agree with this, but that’s not always enough. There is what is known as the foregone conclusion exception. That is, a defendant’s testimony is not self-incriminating if it reveals something the government already knew, and the government can prove that prior knowledge. In this case, the defendant’s testimony is a foregone conclusion — a predictable outcome.

So, for phone passwords, the government can and does argue that revealing the password only shows that the phone belongs to the defendant. If the government has enough proof to establish the phone’s ownership, that’s a foregone conclusion that the defendant would also know its password. Some courts have interpreted this to require the government also to show it has knowledge of the specific pieces of evidence it expects to find on the device.

This exception comes from a 1976 US Supreme Court ruling. In Fisher v. United States, someone being investigated for tax fraud gave documents prepared by his accountant to his lawyer. The IRS wanted those documents; the defendant said that producing them would be self-incriminating and therefore was protected by the Fifth Amendment. The Supreme Court sided with the IRS, ruling that since the existence and location of the tax documents was a “foregone conclusion,” the act of producing them didn’t tell the government anything it didn’t already know.

Obviously, a 44-year-old decision over tax papers doesn’t take into account how information can be stored today, nor how much.

“The EFF’s position is that the foregone conclusion exception is very narrow and should never apply in these passcode cases,” Crocker said.

But without further guidance from the Supreme Court, it’s largely been left up to interpretation by lower courts, with state courts considering their state constitution’s provisions as well as the federal. The result, Crocker says, is “a total patchwork of [decisions from] state Supreme Courts and federal courts.”

For example, in 2019, Massachusetts’s highest court forced a defendant to reveal his phone’s passcode while Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled that a defendant could not be compelled to unlock his computer. Indiana’s and New Jersey’s highest courts are both considering compelled passcode disclosure cases. On the federal side, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a defendant could be compelled to unlock multiple password-protected devices, even though the defendant claimed he couldn’t remember his passwords. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, on the other hand, ruled the other way in a different case.

“It’s very much in flux,” Crocker said. “Eventually, the US Supreme Court could get involved and resolve this.”

There are other ways to protect your phone. Some phones can use fingerprints, facial recognition, and iris scanners to unlock instead of passwords. Law enforcement is allowed to use people’s bodies as evidence against them, for instance by compelling them to participate in suspect lineups or provide their DNA. So if the police can take your fingerprints, can’t they use them to unlock your phone? Again, courts are all over the map on this.

“The issue with biometrics is, is it testimonial?” Granick said. “The courts have not entirely decided that, but there have been a couple courts recently that said biometrics is basically the modern technological equivalent of your passcode.”

Crocker says courts should consider that the evidence police can get from your fingerprint is much more restricted and known than what they can get when your fingerprint unlocks a phone. So far, though, he says, courts have been more likely to rule that the Fifth Amendment does not apply to biometrics than they are that it applies to passcodes.

Yet another factor to consider here is that, while it’s impossible for police to read your mind and get your passcode, they can hold a phone up to your face or press your finger on it to bypass the biometric lock. And while your lawyer can (and should) argue that any evidence found this way was illegally obtained and should be suppressed, there’s no guarantee they’ll win.

“It’s fair to say that invoking one’s rights not to turn over evidence is stronger than trying to have the evidence suppressed after the fact,” Crocker said.

So, all things considered, if you’re worried about law enforcement getting access to your phone, your safest bet is to just use a passcode.

Sadly, I have died. Law enforcement wants to unlock my phone, but they can’t get my password due to my aforementioned death. What happens now?

Short answer: Your Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights generally end when you do. But other parties have rights, too, and those might be enough to keep the government out of your phone.

Long answer: This isn’t about your Fourth or Fifth Amendment rights anymore; for the most part, you lost those when you died. (That said, law enforcement might have to get the right paperwork if they were looking for evidence against someone else on your phone — after all, their Fourth Amendment rights are still intact.) If law enforcement can’t get into your device on its own, it may well be the phone’s manufacturer’s rights that come into question.

[Former] Attorney General Bill Barr has made no secret of his disdain for Apple over its refusal to grant law enforcement access to locked and encrypted devices. In May of 2020, the year this was written, he called for a “legislative solution” that would force tech companies to cooperate with his demands.

Barr also claimed that January that the only way the FBI could access dead suspected terrorist Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani’s iPhones is if Apple unlocked them. The agency has made this argument before. In 2016, the United States tried to use the All Writs Act, which dates back to 1789, to force Apple to create a “back door” that would give the FBI access to the San Bernardino shooter’s locked phone. Apple refused, saying the government could not force it to create “a crippled and insecure product” that it would not have built otherwise. So far, there’s been no legal resolution: In both cases, the FBI was able to access the phone through other means before a court could rule on it.

You may have noticed by now that, while many of the cases concerning phones and passcodes are recent — some are even still making their way through the legal system — the cases cited to make legal arguments are decades or even centuries old. The wheels of justice turn slowly, and judges are often forced to use decisions about access to pieces of paper to inform their rulings about access to devices that hold tremendous amounts of personal information: who we talk to, when, and about what; where we were yesterday, last month, or three years ago; what we spent money on or got money for; our calendars, photos, emails, and contacts. These devices hold tens or even hundreds of gigabytes of data on almost everything about us.

You may not be able to control what law enforcement can get from someone else or what they do with your phone once you’re dead. But, with so much uncertainty surrounding what the government can force you to do with it when you’re alive, it’s a good idea to check out your legal options before handing over that passcode.

[intelligentchristianlady]

Constitutional violations enshrined in state law? Be very afraid. Your state could be next.

If you'd like a different source:

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-secret-police-sparks-fight-democrats-1831481

Or:

https://amp.newsobserver.com/opinion/article279823109.html

[skullhaver]

fr frequently crossing the USA/Canada border is a frustrating exercise in contrasts. I am an American citizen and a Canadian visitor, and the hostility and suspicion with which I am treated by the American border agents never fail to surprise me. I get my vehicle searched about 25% of the crossings, which includes some of my bags being fully opened and riffled through. (And twice, my dirty laundry hamper.) (But, no joke, I have never had my handbag or backpack searched, which sit next to me in the passenger seat. Because again, this is security theater and they are just trying to exercise force and control, not actually prevent dangerous or illegal goods from entering the USA.)

Meanwhile, going into Canada, the border agents are friendly, ask me basic and reasonable questions about how long I'm staying and what I'm bringing into the country, and have never Once searched my vehicle or my bags.

which of these countries should be nicknamed "the land of the free" ?

[hauscrashburn]

I know fuck all about British law but Barnaby broke into someone's house to find evidence. That's illegal search and seizure. How can you even prosecute the man? Could be the confession was coerced based on evidence found during illegal search.

Then again maybe it's different in the UK.

[rastronomicals]

9:08 PM EST November 17, 2024:

Nuclear Assault - "Search & Seizure" From the album Handle With Care (November 23, 1989)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

Drawing as I do a distinction between speedmetal and thrash, I might say that Nuclear Assault were a band with a foot in either camp