• Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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    17 days ago

    Someone did their Snowden reading:

    Parallel construction is a law enforcement process of building a parallel, or separate, evidentiary basis for a criminal investigation in order to limit disclosure as to the origins of an investigation.

    In the US, a particular form is evidence laundering, where one police officer obtains evidence via means that are in violation of the Fourth Amendment

    De facto illegal and shady as hell, but in use when the (feds especially) want to catch someone, typically via warrantless SIGINT mass surveillance. They’ll do the investigation using dragnets and broad searches through metadata and other means that are illegal and inadmissible in court, then an incredibly convenient cop/witness/informant will appear with information that permits an arrest/search under permissible means - under the hope that the suspect has incriminating evidence.

    This is wayyy too convenient to get him, with all the evidence on hand, from a ‘concerned citizen’. We live in a police state, that serves the ruling and moneyed class.