I did consider fighting them for about 7 minutes. Then I remembered that they had a legal team paid for by taxpayers, while I had a toddler and a pretty decent, mostly stress free life.

The laptop that I connected thier SSD to was my coding box, so I deleted all the code and secure erased the free space before they cloned it. They gave me shit about it too, because their forensic people saw days without any file activity. When I told them that it was because I removed my IP they responded with "why don't you think you need to do that? We can keep your data from falling into the wrong hands".

Maybe if I was some kind of an activist I would have tried to fight it.

“We can keep your data from falling into the wrong hands...” just like they did for that drive you found.

I don’t understand...

You found an drive, tried to return it and then we’re subject to an illegal search? Or you consented to a search that would have otherwise been illegal?

I consented to a search

I personally don’t consent to any searches. But I’m sorry you tried to help out and then we’re coerced into having your liberty taken.

Yeah it sucked. Lesson learned :P

Also, googled you. Here is a quote from your website: "I'm an american entrepreneur, inventor and __activist__" :)