When the Government Watches the Watchers

Julie K. Brown learned the government tracked her while she exposed Epstein. My sealed case shows the pattern didn’t end there.

Julie K. Brown did not set out to become part of the Jeffrey Epstein story. She set out to report it. Yet in the course of exposing how Epstein was protected by secrecy and prosecutorial discretion, Brown later learned that the government itself had been quietly tracking her travel. The journalist investigating institutional failure had, without her knowledge, become an object of institutional scrutiny.

That revelation matters, not because it proves malicious intent, but because it exposes a recurring truth about power. When journalists and investigators probe powerful systems, secrecy often shifts from a limited investigative tool into a reflexive shield. Surveillance expands. Explanations contract. Accountability is deferred.

The unsealing of the Epstein files did more than illuminate past crimes. It revealed how secrecy, once normalized, can be used to monitor, deter, and control those who insist on asking uncomfortable questions.

That same pattern now sits at the center of my own case.

Investigate First. Explain Never.

The federal government obtained a sealed order under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) compelling Google to disclose subscriber records associated with my email American Muckrakers account, which I use for investigative journalism and public advocacy through American Muckrakers. At the time, I was not notified. I was not shown the application. I was not provided the supporting affidavit. I was not told what justification was offered to the court.