The US might not be authoritarian overall but the people who wind up in positions of power in the various institutions that run it sure seem to have a much greater authoritarian bent than the populace in general so when they can get away with it (like when prosecuting a hacker or arresting a bootleg cigarette seller) they try to go all out. The kinds of people who routinely complain about these excesses often turn right around and complain that specific kinds of criminals they don't like aren't getting treated badly enough and it drives me up the wall.