All right guys, I'm back, and I am PISSED OFF. After listening to a problem of my friend's, (IN which he may come under FBI investigation for tripping download limits) I decided to search through the internet to see what could be done about this. As he has very little money, and the computer is one of his few possessions and the only thing that he has to really appreciate, I went to search on how to get seized property back in the event that he has to use it.
DO you know what I found out? The FBI, cops, any part of the judicial system that has a search warrant to seize your property can take it, and then never ever give it back, even if you are found not guilty of any crime. It can be simply held for the rest of your life or sold for auction, no matter how much evidence shows that there is no reason for them to have it, because once it is confiscated, it can be considered to be up for forfeiture, and to get it back after that, you have to win an entirely new court case. All the while, this may take up vast amounts of money, and time. And you might not even win the case.
This is THEFT. People who have never committed any crime can, and have, their property taken away from them permanently because they were suspected of a crime. It is extortion, violation of the right to own property, the right to a fair trial, and the right to privacy.
It is an absolute outrage that innocent people are harmed by the technical parts of bureaucracy that allows police to abuse their powers and still be protected by law. While there may be some grey areas to lawmaking, and places where it is hard to tell the difference, there is no grey area in punishing innocent people because the government wants to extort as much of your money and time as it can.
Tell other people about this, tell anyone you meet, this MUST CHANGE. Make it a problem that is too big to be ignored. People complain about the problems of the government, police, whatever? Here's a place to start. Abolish this violation of our rights, now.
