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Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

arstechnica.com

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Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#11

Post by BigChiefSmokem »

sokoloff wrote: post #10
BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #7

Let him go then.

What about the possibility that this guy (or someone else similarly situated) might legitimately not have the password to unlock the volume? I have old hard drives and computers in my basement for which I'm quite sure I don't recall the root password. Edited to add: I'm not coming out pro-child-pornography, but I think the EFF has it 100% correct here. From the article: The Electronic Frontier Foundation told the cou…

Then his lawyer can argue that, but instead they are arguing the Fifth Amendment. The question is rather, does the Constitution render the court order illegal?

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#12

Post by dleslie »

personjerry wrote: post #9
dleslie wrote: post #8

Doesn't America have some rule against being compelled to provide evidence of your guilt?

It's mentioned right in the article - Fifth Amendment

Ah, that's what that is. The amendments are not recognizable to me by number alone.

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#13

Post by danbruc »

This is probably a lot less black and white then it might seem at first. If there is sufficient evidence, one can obtain a search warrant and this forces you to possibly act against your own best interest by allowing the police to search your home. On the other hand you can usually not be forced to testify against yourself.

So this becomes the question where decrypting a hard drive lies on this spectrum. Is it more like testifying against yourself or is it more like allowing the police to search your home? Assuming one agrees with the way testifying against yourself and searching your home is currently handled by the law.

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#15

Post by planetjones »

As expected on HN I am not surprised to see people defending one's right to privacy and encryption. However, what's the solution then ? If all the "bad guys" who distribute illegal material do so encrypted volumes and refuse to give up the decryption key then what do we do ? It's a different world now; the police can't just take a drill out and open the safe.

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#16

Post by remotebug »

planetjones wrote: post #15

As expected on HN I am not surprised to see people defending one's right to privacy and encryption. However, what's the solution then ? If all the "bad guys" who distribute illegal material do so encrypted volumes and refuse to give up the decryption key then what do we do ? It's a different world now; the police can't just take a drill out and open the safe.

Gather evidence instead of hoping you can convict someone of evil-doings based on their own records?

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#17

Post by AckSyn »

He shouldn't have to decrypt his hard drives, and I support his decisions.

The problems with this are numerous.

First of all no one has any duty to provide the police with evidence as a 5th amendment protection. It's not a "right" for the police at all to have.

Imprisoning someone for failure to disregard their constitutional rights is absurd.

They have no evidence to hold him period.

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#18

Post by sixQuarks »

ghurtado wrote: post #6
guard-of-terra wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You see, 35 years ago you signed this order on d'tention over hard drive 'ncryption? That's unconst'tutional, you know. Here we've got the relevant law. So now we have to w'draw a 35 years worth of pay that you received aft'wards. That's the law that say that, too. We'll start by taking your house 'way. Also we our records show you gave $100k to your daughter 15 years ago. I'm 'fraid we have to put a debt on her for…

Why do you do that with apostrophes? It makes your comment harder to read and doesn't add anything to it.

I think he's doing a southern accent

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#19

Post by spaceboy »

I thought the U.S had better key disclosure law[1] than other countries? Personally I would rather not self-incriminate myself by revealing a key, no matter how draconian and lengthy the sentencing was. Why, you ask? Well I consider all my own personal data likened to an extension of my own mind, and revealing a key is like slicing a thin part of my brain and attempting to pick its contents. Never a gentlemanly thing to do in any circumstance.

In terms of being stopped and searched when traveling, I just carry a TailsOS bootable live USB. My laptop doesn't have a hard-drive and boots entirely from my TailsOS USB stick. I did not enable any persistent storage and any bookmarks I need to remember, I simply remember them by rote, like in that movie The Book of Eli[2]. My threat model is such that I don't want anybody knowing my business when traveling. The intrusiveness should only go so far as one question, like "Business or Pleasure?" and that's all.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law#United_Stat...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Eli

Re: Man jailed 16 months, and counting, for refusing to decrypt hard drives

#20

Post by iamdave »

planetjones wrote: post #15

As expected on HN I am not surprised to see people defending one's right to privacy and encryption. However, what's the solution then ? If all the "bad guys" who distribute illegal material do so encrypted volumes and refuse to give up the decryption key then what do we do ? It's a different world now; the police can't just take a drill out and open the safe.

If all the "bad guys" who distribute illegal material do so encrypted volumes and refuse to give up the decryption key then what do we do ?

"Bad guys" still have fifth amendment protection. You prosecute, satisfy the burden of proof and hope a jury convicts. That's what you do.

Outside of that, if you really want this changed, petition your representative to repeal the fifth amendment, I suppose?

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