Ancil
The cops may visit your house if you are seen searching for certain terms on Google.
After a routine internet search resulted in an unexpected visit from police authorities, a woman has shared a warning.
Long Island, New York-based freelance writer Michele Catalano talked about her disturbing experience, emphasizing how seemingly harmless internet activities might trigger suspicions.
In 2013, Catalano and her spouse were individually searching the internet for everyday home things when the tragedy occurred.
Her husband had been looking for backpacks, while she had been looking for a pressure cooker.
Neither of them realized at the time that their online behavior would lead to a police inquiry.
In a blog post detailing the incident, Michele clarified that the combination of their search terms unintentionally resembled those used by terrorists preparing attacks.
“Googling of certain things was creating a perfect storm of terrorism profiling,” she wrote.
After her husband performed identical searches on his work computer, the situation became more heated.
He searched for “pressure cooker” and “backpack” just before quitting his job.
The company’s IT employees were alarmed by this conduct and informed the Suffolk County Police Department of it.
The catastrophic events that transpired during the Boston Marathon bombing earlier that year were the source of their anxiety.
Two improvised bombs fashioned from pressure cookers were set off close to the finish line of the marathon on April 15, 2013, killing three people and wounding hundreds more, including 17 people who lost limbs.
The resemblance to Catalano’s husband’s search keywords was especially concerning because the devices were hidden in backpacks.
The pair soon encountered a spectacular reaction.
When a number of black SUVs pulled up outside their house, police officers came to make sure the couple was not a threat.
Michele vividly recalled the moment: her husband ‘saw three black SUVs in front of our house; two at the curb in front and one pulled up behind my husband’s Jeep in the driveway, as if to block him from leaving.’
A statement from Suffolk County police clarified the reasoning behind the visit: “Suffolk County Criminal Intelligence detectives received a tip from a Bay Shore-based computer company regarding suspicious computer searches conducted by a recently released employee.”
Reflecting on the incident, Michele expressed her concern over the loss of online privacy: “Mostly I felt a great sense of anxiety. This is where we are at. Where you have no expectation of privacy. Where trying to learn how to cook some lentils could possibly land you on a watch list.”
She added with dry humor: “All I know is if I’m going to buy a pressure cooker in the near future, I’m not doing it online. I’m scared. And not of the right things.”
