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European Law Enforcement Officials Declare Encryption Must Be Broken To Ensure Public Safety
(www.techdirt.com)
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
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Privacy
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To be fair: previous generations of police officers, back when most people used phones, have made extensive use of wiretapping (and current policemen still do, of course).
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Forty years ago police had to have a basic level of intelligence and they investigated. Now some of them just rely on arm-twisting and plea bargain threats to find any patsy they can to stuff in a cell. They can have no crime, no complaint, no witness, no evidence, and still arrest you, and the D.A. will offer you a plea deal for something that didn't even happen. Your public pretender defense lawyer will tell you to take the deal. Don't laugh... it can happen to anyone.
You seem to be describing the US system (or some other common law one... but I believe district attorney is a US-specific term?)...
IDK about other EU countries (I guess they are all the same in this regard?), but in my Italy the public prosecutor has zero discretionary power when it comes to indictment and must, per the Italian Constitution, proceed based on the investigation outcomes. So there is no "help me catch the bigger fish and I'll only charge you with some minor crime" like in the movies.
So... yes, what you describe can happen to anyone, but it can't happen just anywhere :)
The court system in USA is absolutely and irredeemably corrupt. Many prosecutors in USA are vile criminals and most of them belong in prison themselves. They have no respect for the Constitution or Bill of Rights that they are by law subscribed and sworn to uphold. They will use bogus criminal charges to affect or chill the outcome of an unrelated civil matter, to 'shut you up' in street parlance. People think America is free. It is an authoritarian hell run by delusional nutters. People like to scoff at that, until it's _their turn_ to ride the courthouse railroad.