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Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

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Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#111

Post by rdtsc »

thrownawayfbi wrote: post #68

I can attest as a personal experience in the past that this kind of behavior is not uncommon with feds, and has happened even before the current administration. I've had a five years probation in the past for what the FBI argued that I "hacked" some company from changing the URL in specific ways, not to mention the "clear hacking tools" I had installed in my computer, e.g CCleaner. You know something is wrong when yo…

> I can attest as a personal experience in the past that this kind of behavior is not uncommon with feds, and has happened even before the current administration

One the first comments on reddit was actually:

> … in trump's america lmao

Someone had to awkwardly point out it was biden’s america. Which makes it easier and saves keystrokes: it’s just “america, lmao”. Then other countries can be even worse so it’s “lmao”. And soon enough they are just laughing their asses off while the person is stuck in jail.

> "clear hacking tools" I had installed in my computer, e.g CCleaner

I have always wondered if they are primarily that stupid or just evil and pretending to be stupid. I am leaning towards evil.

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#112

Post by nelox »

tptacek wrote: post #89

For whatever it's worth, the Reddit story here says that the federal courts used "fraudulent warrants to jail my husband again". Maybe! The other side of that story, via PACER, is a detailed parole violation warrant (you can hear the marshal refer to it in the video); the violations in that warrant: 1. Admitting to using cannabis during supervised release 2. Failing to make scheduled restitution payments and to coope…

Yeah, but apart from that …

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#113

Post by NoImmatureAdHom »

rich_sasha wrote: post #92

I certainly sympathise, but actually don't find it at all surprising. Tor is totally used for criminal activity. That doesn't mean it is inherently a bad thing, or that it is this guy's fault, but he can't completely wash his hands off it. If bad guys use the postal service, it's not the postman's fault, but he has to cooperate with law enforcement if they demand that. I don't know about the US, but contempt of court…

In the U.S. and much of the rest of the civilized world, you have rights. This includes the right to not self-incriminate (in the U.S. that's the 5th amendment). In general, except for very specific and limited circumstances, U.S. state and federal government actors cannot compel speech (telling your encryption keys is compelled speech).

The U.K. is fast sliding down the slope to being a dystopian police state. The idea that you can be jailed for refusing to provide encryption keys (except for really specific, narrowly-defined circumstances) is something that should induce nausea. I feel for you and your country, you accomplished such great things.

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#114

Post by kilroy123 »

eulgro wrote: post #8

We all commit three felonies a day.

This is exactly right. At any given time, the feds or government could come after you and find _something_ to charge you with.

I don't normally agree with this man, but he is dead right. There are too many fucking laws.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/america-ha...

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#115

Post by DharmaPolice »

tptacek wrote: post #105
tptacek wrote: post #89

For whatever it's worth, the Reddit story here says that the federal courts used "fraudulent warrants to jail my husband again". Maybe! The other side of that story, via PACER, is a detailed parole violation warrant (you can hear the marshal refer to it in the video); the violations in that warrant: 1. Admitting to using cannabis during supervised release 2. Failing to make scheduled restitution payments and to coope…

OK, I think I found the original thing Rockenhaus was convicted of. Back in 2014, Rockenhaus worked for a travel booking company. He was fired. He used stale VPN access to connect back to the company's infrastructure, and then detached a SCSI LUN from the server cluster, crashing it. The company, not knowing he was involved, retained him to help diagnose and fix the problem. During the investigation, the company figu…

While I'm sure this is criminal behaviour it seems debatable that this dude is a danger to the public. But there may be more to it I guess.

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#117

Post by segmondy »

tptacek wrote: post #105
tptacek wrote: post #89

For whatever it's worth, the Reddit story here says that the federal courts used "fraudulent warrants to jail my husband again". Maybe! The other side of that story, via PACER, is a detailed parole violation warrant (you can hear the marshal refer to it in the video); the violations in that warrant: 1. Admitting to using cannabis during supervised release 2. Failing to make scheduled restitution payments and to coope…

OK, I think I found the original thing Rockenhaus was convicted of. Back in 2014, Rockenhaus worked for a travel booking company. He was fired. He used stale VPN access to connect back to the company's infrastructure, and then detached a SCSI LUN from the server cluster, crashing it. The company, not knowing he was involved, retained him to help diagnose and fix the problem. During the investigation, the company figu…

good find, there's often more than meets the eyes in these stories. folks forget that the court/case records will reveal hidden details.

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#118

Post by kilroy123 »

xqcgrek2 wrote: post #31

If anyone here has investments in US dollar denominated assets, move them out of the country. The US is entering a death spiral.

I left the US 10 years ago when Obama was still president. It's been obvious to me that we've been in decline for decades. The state of the US is not surprising to me. It is however still shocking and sad to see.

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#119

Post by petcat »

tptacek wrote: post #105
tptacek wrote: post #89

For whatever it's worth, the Reddit story here says that the federal courts used "fraudulent warrants to jail my husband again". Maybe! The other side of that story, via PACER, is a detailed parole violation warrant (you can hear the marshal refer to it in the video); the violations in that warrant: 1. Admitting to using cannabis during supervised release 2. Failing to make scheduled restitution payments and to coope…

OK, I think I found the original thing Rockenhaus was convicted of. Back in 2014, Rockenhaus worked for a travel booking company. He was fired. He used stale VPN access to connect back to the company's infrastructure, and then detached a SCSI LUN from the server cluster, crashing it. The company, not knowing he was involved, retained him to help diagnose and fix the problem. During the investigation, the company figu…

If all of that is true, then that is a very serious CFAA charge. It makes sense that they would want to downplay it as "minor" and "not relevant". It sounds like the parole violations came later? In any case, thank you for researching. There is always more to the story.

Re: Man jailed for parole violations after refusing to decrypt his Tor node

#120

Post by mapontosevenths »

rich_sasha wrote: post #92

I certainly sympathise, but actually don't find it at all surprising. Tor is totally used for criminal activity. That doesn't mean it is inherently a bad thing, or that it is this guy's fault, but he can't completely wash his hands off it. If bad guys use the postal service, it's not the postman's fault, but he has to cooperate with law enforcement if they demand that. I don't know about the US, but contempt of court…

> You can't refuse to submit evidence to court, including things like encryption keys or things only stored in your head - or face penalties including unlimited jail time.

This is a bit more complex in the US. We have the fifth amendment to our Constitution which says "nor shall [a person] be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

So, we can't be made to testify against ourselves. This has sometimes been interpreted to mean that they can't compel cryptography keys that are stored in our brains, and sometimes has been interpreted the other way.

I'm unaware of any definitive decision that applies universally. I've heard some suggest that passphrases that are themselves an admission of crime are a workaround that ensures you can't be compelled to provide them.

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