Just a few years ago this very article would cross the tinfoil line. Plus, don't be naive to think that the government wouldn't use an accusation of committing a crime to cover what they really want to do.
For instance, need data from a server's hard drive? Accuse someone you know who has data on that server, not necessarily the data you want, to have an excuse to seize said hard drive and analyze it. Nope, turns out the accusation was incorrect, here's the hard drive back. Ah, is getting other data not covered by the warrant illegal? It just might be, but you can't complain if you don't know they did it and you probably don't have standing to sue over it to find out. Plus with authorities able to get double-secret warrants based on triple-super-secret laws issued by not-so-secret courts with "you can't even admit you were here" secret proceedings, how would anyone know in the first place?
Remember, government agents have the authority to lie to you in an effort to complete their goals.
Not that I'm saying the NSA was behind MegaUpload or anything, just saying it's feasible.
For instance, need data from a server's hard drive? Accuse someone you know who has data on that server, not necessarily the data you want, to have an excuse to seize said hard drive and analyze it. Nope, turns out the accusation was incorrect, here's the hard drive back. Ah, is getting other data not covered by the warrant illegal? It just might be, but you can't complain if you don't know they did it and you probably don't have standing to sue over it to find out. Plus with authorities able to get double-secret warrants based on triple-super-secret laws issued by not-so-secret courts with "you can't even admit you were here" secret proceedings, how would anyone know in the first place?
Remember, government agents have the authority to lie to you in an effort to complete their goals.
Not that I'm saying the NSA was behind MegaUpload or anything, just saying it's feasible.