FBI Harassing TOR Software Developer, Refusing To Explain Why They Want To Meet Her

Short Bytes: Little did Isis Agora know that working for the Tor would land her into a land of troubles. This account of a series of events that happened between her and the FBI is sufficient to explain the intention of the FBI and what traumatic and post-traumatic behavioural changes a normal citizen has to go through after such incidents.

To crack its authoritarian whip, FBI seems so wilful in its act. They like to chase, sniff and sometimes, even let loose from a distance that the sound is perceived not so loud to others yet it reaches out to the intended person. Such is the case with Isis Agora Lovecruft.

Isis Agora Lovecruft has been working with the Tor for many years. Currently, her job role is a lead software developer. Besides working as a lead software developer, she has experience in working with other security and encryption products and services like Open Whisper Systems and the LEAP Encryption Access Project.

Also Read: Now FBI Can Hack Any Computer In The World With Just One Warrant

Well, like her, there are many in the US who have such a job role and same working experience in security as a developer. So, is that a coincidence that FBI ‘just’ wants to talk to her?

It began with an FBI agent coming to her parents’ house, leaving behind his visiting card and later making phone calls to her parents when she was not at home and out for work. Puzzled by such incidents, Lovecruft decided to hire a lawyer who reached out to the FBI agent in the scene above.

Here is what happened:

The lawyer calls the FBI agent. The lawyer said that now he represents the Lovecruft’s family and asked the FBI agent that instead of directing the questions to the family members, all the questions should be directed to him. For which the agent agreed but asked to call back in five minutes.

Back then, LoveCruft was in a process of shifting to Germany permanently. Even in Germany, FBI gave her frequent visits and calls.

Meanwhile, in the discussion with the lawyer, the FBI kept mentioning some documents which they had no idea about and FBI insisted always on meeting with her in person.

However, the next day, Agora’s visa was approved but eight hours later, his lawyer received a voicemail saying:

Hello this is Special Agent Kelvin Porter, we spoke two days ago regarding your client. Umm… well… so the situation with the documents… it’s umm… it’s all fixed. I mean, we would of course still be happy to meet with your client if she’s willing, but the problem has… uh… yeah… been fixed. And uh… yeah. Just let us know if she wants to set up a meeting.

But this voicemail from January is not the end of the story.

Last week, FBI came knocking again at her door with a subpoena for her to serve. The lawyer representing Lovercuft was informed of the subpoena and asked that she should meet one of their agents in San Francisco. The situation looked like Lovecruft might be a potential target which FBI was reluctant to talk about from the beginning.

Also Read: FBI To Court: “No, We Won’t Reveal How We Hacked 1000+ TOR Users”

Owing to such tremendous pressure, she stopped contacting others fearing she might endanger them as well. Her parents also would sometimes receive threats and so will his lawyer.

As she mentions in the end that paychecks for working on Tor come from the US government. She is not doing any crime, she is just working on a software which lets people browse safely.

Full story with the conversations can be read here on TechDirt.