The Justice Department says it's perfectly legal for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to cut Internet access of hotel rooms, pose as repairmen, and gather evidence of illegal activity—without a court warrant.

The government said in a court filing late Monday that the Caesars Palace occupants—who called the hotel desk to fix the problem—invited the undercover agents into their Las Vegas rooms, which is enough consent where a warrant is not needed.

"Law enforcement has long been permitted to obtain consent by posing as a confederate, business associate, or service provider. In fact, the government uses ruses every day in its undercover operations, and consent obtained by such ruses is valid unless the deceit leaves the occupant with no choice but to consent to an entry. In this case, the ruse—which involved a brief interruption of DSL service for which no Fourth Amendment intrusion was necessary, and which did not interfere with the occupants' other means of Internet access—was not coercive," federal prosecutors wrote [PDF] in defense of the tactic. This initiative preceded the arrest of an alleged leader of a well-known Chinese crime syndicate and other associates.

The authorities built, in part, a case for a search warrant [PDF] obtained after the ruse by turning off Internet access in $25,000-per-night villas shared by the eight individuals arrested. At various points, an agent of the FBI and a Nevada gaming official posed as the cable guy, secretly filming while gathering evidence this summer of what they alleged was a bookmaking ring where "hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal bets" on World Cup soccer were taking place.

Defense attorneys are demanding that the case be dismissed, claiming the case was built illegally, among other things.

"The government now admits that agents entered private rooms using the ruse of shutting off Internet access and dressing up as technicians,” defense attorney Thomas Goldstein said in an e-mail. "Based on the government’s response, agents can use similar schemes to enter any home in America without a warrant and without the slightest suspicion. We hope the Court will recognize this egregious violation of personal privacy.”

The government provided the Las Vegas judge presiding over the case with a laundry list of legal precedent in which the government employed a ruse to gain access to a dwelling. In 1966, the Supreme Court said it was OK for an agent to pretend to be a drug buyer to get inside a home. In 1980, the courts upheld an agent posing as a drug dealer's chauffeur. In 1982, an agent posed as the cousin of an informant to get inside a suspect's residence. In 1987, government agents posing as real estate investors accessed a suspect's bedroom and closet. In 1989, an undercover officer posed as a UPS delivery man to get inside a home suspected of manufacturing methamphetamine.

However, agents disguised as gas company or water district workers asking for permission to enter to check for leaks were deemed illegal searches because they were given "involuntary" consent to enter the premises because the defendants were led to believe there was a life-threatening emergency.

"This case is easily distinguishable from those in which courts have held that a ruse effectively took away the defendant’s choice to refuse entry. Defendants here simply cannot argue that they believed they had no choice but to allow Caesars' technicians to enter their villas: no essential service was disrupted, and no emergency was presented," the government wrote.

One of the accused defendants is Paul Phua, charged under the name Wei Seng Phua. The government alleges that the 50-year-old Malaysian man is a "high-ranking member" (PDF) of the 14K Triad specializing in loan sharking, illegal gambling, prostitution, and drug trafficking.

The others arrested include Darren Wai Kit Phua, 22; Seng Chen Yong, 56; and Wai Kin Yong, 22—all of Malaysia. Also arrested were Hui Tang, 44, of China; Yan Zhang, 40; Yung Keung Fan, 46; and Herman Chun Sang Yeung, 36, all from Hong Kong.

What's more, the government said it already had evidence of alleged bookmaking before agents posed as Internet technicians.

The undercover investigation began when the defendants started requesting a substantial amount of electronic equipment and Internet connections from Caesars Palace staff, the government said. A technician was suspicious and alerted casino security that a bookmaking operation might be underway, the government said in court papers.

In court papers lodged last month, however, defense attorneys cried foul: [PDF]

The notion that an individual “consents” to such searches—so that the government is free to ignore the Fourth Amendment’s explicit warrant requirement—is, in a word, absurd. Our lives cannot be private—and our personal relationships intimate—if each physical connection that links our homes to the outside world doubles as a ready-made excuse for the government to conduct a secret, suspicionless, warrantless search. Only a few remote log cabins lack any Internet, electric, gas, water, cable, or telephone service. But the Constitution does not require us to sever all those connections—and live as hermitic luddites—to protect ourselves from the government’s prying eyes and secret cameras. A ruling upholding these intrusions would cause innocent Americans to live their daily lives burdened with the palpable sense that their government is regularly scheming to spy on them in their homes.

A hearing on the motion to dismiss the charges is set for next month.