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Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

arstechnica.co.uk

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Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#21

Post by toolz »

DanBC wrote: post #14
mabbo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First sentence of the article says he's already been there 7 months. They won't get 'more bad guys', they just want to prove that they can do this to anyone who doesn't obey.

Or they want to identify the child victims of sexual abuse, and want to make sure those children are safe, and that the people abusing them and taking photos of that abuse are prosecuted.

Somehow unethical law precedent always seems to come at the aid of women and children. I have a very hard time buying into that overused excuse. How likely do you think it is that the children fall into their jurisdiction? Much less even, do you think they'll be able to identify young undocumented children?

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#22

Post by Kristine1975 »

INTPenis wrote: post #8
coreyp_1 wrote: post #2

This is an important constitutional issue! The subject may be deplorable, but the root issue is not. If it is a "foregone conclusion", then they should have no problem convicting the guy without forcing him to testify against himself. If it is not a "foregone conclusion", then they have been lying and are illegally (unconstitutionally) depriving him of his freedom for months, without even charging him with a crime!

>Investigators say they know child porn is on the drives. His sister saw some of it and the suspect is said to have shown his family an illicit video, too. So that's their basis for this "foregone conclusion" apparently. That at one point in time it was witnessed. That is very dangerous logic. The sadest thing in this is that it took child pornography to make the headlines, not political activism or journalism but th…

I wouldn't call looking at pictures (even of victims of child sexual abuse) "the most despicable crime in our modern society". The child sexual abuse itself is worse.

Also torture, wars of aggression, mass poisoning...

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#23

Post by rubyfan »

coreyp_1 wrote: post #2

This is an important constitutional issue! The subject may be deplorable, but the root issue is not. If it is a "foregone conclusion", then they should have no problem convicting the guy without forcing him to testify against himself. If it is not a "foregone conclusion", then they have been lying and are illegally (unconstitutionally) depriving him of his freedom for months, without even charging him with a crime!

I kind of agree that if the government had evidence to convict or even charge him of a crime the burden is on the government.

Though we all hate the underlying accusation and no one wants to protect this kind of activity, it is important that the government play by the rules. To do otherwise sets the precedent for future abuse on less heinous cases.

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#24

Post by Kristine1975 »

toolz wrote: post #21
DanBC wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they want to identify the child victims of sexual abuse, and want to make sure those children are safe, and that the people abusing them and taking photos of that abuse are prosecuted.

Somehow unethical law precedent always seems to come at the aid of women and children. I have a very hard time buying into that overused excuse. How likely do you think it is that the children fall into their jurisdiction? Much less even, do you think they'll be able to identify young undocumented children?

>How likely do you think it is that the children fall into their jurisdiction?

Since child porn is illegal just about everywhere (although the definition of "child" may vary), it should pose no problem to notify the authorities in the country of origin.

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#25

Post by SixSigma »

dkersten wrote: post #16
oarsinsync wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which in itself isn't really valid. Under immense stress, memory fails. I'd wager facing a long prison sentence for a crime that will make you a big target in an already hostile environment would be pretty stressful.

I was going to comment the same thing. If I'd been imprisoned for 7 months, there's a good chance I'd forget my password manager master password too... I remember it now because I enter it multiple times a day. After 7 months, under duress and stress? I'm not sure if I would...

I'm not so sure. It's going to be on your mind constantly, surely.

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#26

Post by oarsinsync »

dkersten wrote: post #16
oarsinsync wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which in itself isn't really valid. Under immense stress, memory fails. I'd wager facing a long prison sentence for a crime that will make you a big target in an already hostile environment would be pretty stressful.

I was going to comment the same thing. If I'd been imprisoned for 7 months, there's a good chance I'd forget my password manager master password too... I remember it now because I enter it multiple times a day. After 7 months, under duress and stress? I'm not sure if I would...

Meanwhile a laptop I didn't access for 3 months has a boot password (that I must not have needed for >3 months ontop of that) is now locked away and without any ability for me to login to.

And that was without going to prison

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#29

Post by Freak_NL »

xaduha wrote: post #17
maremmano wrote: post #3

and what happens if I forgot my password?

You could be lying. What is more interesting to me is what happens when you destroy the crypto key (usb token or a smartcard), so no one ever can decrypt it.

Then you will probably get charged with destruction of evidence, and punished accordingly. Either there is evidence that you willingly destroyed it, or there isn't and you are acquitted.

That situation seems a lot less abstract and certainly less disconcerting than being jailed indefinitely for not remembering a passphrase (or claiming you can't).

Re: Indefinite prison for suspect who won’t decrypt hard drives, US government says

#30

Post by Freak_NL »

Kristine1975 wrote: post #24
toolz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somehow unethical law precedent always seems to come at the aid of women and children. I have a very hard time buying into that overused excuse. How likely do you think it is that the children fall into their jurisdiction? Much less even, do you think they'll be able to identify young undocumented children?

>How likely do you think it is that the children fall into their jurisdiction? Since child porn is illegal just about everywhere (although the definition of "child" may vary), it should pose no problem to notify the authorities in the country of origin.

The definition of 'child porn' differs greatly as well, more than the definition of 'child' I'd wager.
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