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This certainly sounds like a very stressful situation, and I really hope the situation resolves in such a fashion as she no longer feels threatened. That said,

by eridius 11y ago

This certainly sounds like a very stressful situation, and I really hope the situation resolves in such a fashion as she no longer feels threatened. That said, I don't understand why, once she was in Germany, she didn't call the FBI at that time to find out what the heck was going on. Since she's not on US soil she doesn't have to worry about the FBI physically tracking her down, and if the FBI asks questions she doesn't want to answer she can hang up. Worst case I can think of is the FBI asks a question with at least one potential answer that would incriminate her, she feels uncomfortable answering for whatever reason, and the FBI then interprets her ending the call there as suspicious (I don't believe the right against self-incrimination applies in this particular circumstance). Edit: As mentioned in another reply (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631827 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631827), I'm not suggesting that she should give information to the FBI or otherwise cooperate. I'm suggesting she should seek information from them, with the proviso that she will not be answering questions (and therefore her refusal to answer after being asked a question will not be suspicious). Heck, since the FBI indicated they don't necessarily believe her lawyer represents her, she could just call them and say "Please talk to my lawyer <insert name here>, he represents me in this matter" and hang up.

blazespin 11y ago
The police are not your friends. They will leverage any slip up you make to squeeze you in to doing what they want. Thus the lawyer. SHe works for Tor. Could you imagine what they might squeeze her to do? Also, they're not going to say anything over the phone that they aren't willing to say to the lawyer.. so no real point in calling.
- eridius 11y ago
  They already said earlier that they would accept a call. They changed their story to saying they'd really prefer to meet in person, but since they already admitted they'd accept a call then that should still work. In any case, the point isn't to cooperate with the police. The point is to just find out what the heck the FBI actually wants. Finding out what they want doesn't mean actually giving them what it is they want. She could say upfront that she's not answering any questions and just wants to know what they want from her. If they won't tell her under those conditions, well, she's no worse off than she is today.
  - tP5n 11y ago
    No, don't do this, ever. Never think you are going to outsmart a professional doing his/her job - be it feds or police, you are going to lose. Imagine this happening in your line of work, it'd be absurd thing to happen, right? In general, don't take health or legal advice from HN. There are other places for that, and there is money to spent well.
    - eridius 11y ago
      This isn't about outsmarting anyone.
  - iak8god 11y ago
    > She could [call them and] say upfront that she's not answering any questions and just wants to know what they want from her. Presumably her lawyer advised her against doing this. If you'd bothered to retain a lawyer in a situation like this, don't you think you'd defer to his expertise on how to deal with law enforcement?
zyxley 11y ago
> Worst case I can think of is the FBI asks a question with at least one potential answer that would incriminate her, she feels uncomfortable answering for whatever reason, and the FBI then interprets her ending the call there as suspicious If there was any kind of criminal suspicion involved, they would absolutely do that. That's why talking to law enforcement is something you have a lawyer do.
- eridius 11y ago
  In my other reply (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631827 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631827) I pointed out that she could call them, tell them she's not answering any questions, and just wants to know what they want. If she tells them upfront she won't answer questions (and sticks to that), then when they tell her what they want, not answering their question isn't suspicious.
  - zyxley 11y ago
    You're basically saying she should try and act like an imitation lawyer. That's stupid - that's the job of the actual lawyer involved.
    - eridius 11y ago
      But they won't talk to the actual lawyer involved. So what I'm suggesting is that she either simply tell them "Talk to my lawyer <name>, he represents me in this case" (since their excuse for not talking before was they don't believe the lawyer necessarily represents her), or to just tell them she's not answering questions but them to tell her what they want. Then she can talk to her lawyer again about whatever it is they say to her.
      - zyxley 11y ago
        > But they won't talk to the actual lawyer involved. Too bad. That's their problem, not hers.
kharms 11y ago
> Since she's not on US soil she doesn't have to worry about the FBI physically tracking her down There is an extradition treaty between the US and Germany.
- eridius 11y ago
  As she points out, the FBI is perfectly capable of knowing she flew to Germany. And heck, she just published that on her blog. Her calling them has no bearing on whether they are capable of extraditing her. My point was more that she doesn't have to worry about the FBI coming to her.

by eridius 11y ago

blazespin 11y ago

The police are not your friends. They will leverage any slip up you make to squeeze you in to doing what they want. Thus the lawyer. SHe works for Tor. Could you imagine what they might squeeze her to do? Also, they're not going to say anything over the phone that they aren't willing to say to the lawyer.. so no real point in calling.

eridius 11y ago
They already said earlier that they would accept a call. They changed their story to saying they'd really prefer to meet in person, but since they already admitted they'd accept a call then that should still work. In any case, the point isn't to cooperate with the police. The point is to just find out what the heck the FBI actually wants. Finding out what they want doesn't mean actually giving them what it is they want. She could say upfront that she's not answering any questions and just wants to know what they want from her. If they won't tell her under those conditions, well, she's no worse off than she is today.
- tP5n 11y ago
  No, don't do this, ever. Never think you are going to outsmart a professional doing his/her job - be it feds or police, you are going to lose. Imagine this happening in your line of work, it'd be absurd thing to happen, right? In general, don't take health or legal advice from HN. There are other places for that, and there is money to spent well.
  - eridius 11y ago
    This isn't about outsmarting anyone.
- iak8god 11y ago
  > She could [call them and] say upfront that she's not answering any questions and just wants to know what they want from her. Presumably her lawyer advised her against doing this. If you'd bothered to retain a lawyer in a situation like this, don't you think you'd defer to his expertise on how to deal with law enforcement?

zyxley 11y ago

> Worst case I can think of is the FBI asks a question with at least one potential answer that would incriminate her, she feels uncomfortable answering for whatever reason, and the FBI then interprets her ending the call there as suspicious If there was any kind of criminal suspicion involved, they would absolutely do that. That's why talking to law enforcement is something you have a lawyer do.

eridius 11y ago
In my other reply (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631827 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11631827) I pointed out that she could call them, tell them she's not answering any questions, and just wants to know what they want. If she tells them upfront she won't answer questions (and sticks to that), then when they tell her what they want, not answering their question isn't suspicious.
- zyxley 11y ago
  You're basically saying she should try and act like an imitation lawyer. That's stupid - that's the job of the actual lawyer involved.
  - eridius 11y ago
    But they won't talk to the actual lawyer involved. So what I'm suggesting is that she either simply tell them "Talk to my lawyer <name>, he represents me in this case" (since their excuse for not talking before was they don't believe the lawyer necessarily represents her), or to just tell them she's not answering questions but them to tell her what they want. Then she can talk to her lawyer again about whatever it is they say to her.
    - zyxley 11y ago
      > But they won't talk to the actual lawyer involved. Too bad. That's their problem, not hers.

kharms 11y ago

> Since she's not on US soil she doesn't have to worry about the FBI physically tracking her down There is an extradition treaty between the US and Germany.

eridius 11y ago
As she points out, the FBI is perfectly capable of knowing she flew to Germany. And heck, she just published that on her blog. Her calling them has no bearing on whether they are capable of extraditing her. My point was more that she doesn't have to worry about the FBI coming to her.