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French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

theguardian.com

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Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#121

Post by kevviiinn »

hiatus wrote: post #53
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is this different than refusing to tell where you've buried the bodies? It would be more equivalent to refusing to let the police search one room in your house after they’ve established a reason to believe that you might be hiding bodies in it. > Why should the police be permitted to assume you're guilty and in possession of vital information under certain circumstances? They haven’t assumed guilt of the suspec…

Yes but your mere refusal to allow entry to a room is not grounds for arrest if the police already have a warrant and can search it regardless of your permission. Put another way, the police do not require you to produce the keys to the subject of a warrant, they will enter by force if necessary. It's perverse that technology is different only because the police have no means of forcible entry.

>the police have no means of forcible entry.

Technically they do as seen in the San Bernardino shooter case, it's just expensive

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#122

Post by olliej »

1letterunixname wrote: post #117
ta1243 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes the rolling eyes method is the way to avoid it if you get into that situaiton.

They'll just wait until you can't hold your eyes up anymore.

it will try like 3 times before requiring a passcode

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#123

Post by 1letterunixname »

ornel wrote: post #67

According to this tweet[0] citing a (locked) article, the arrested publisher was asked by police "Do you support president Macron? Have you participated in the recent demonstrations in France? What books will soon be published by La Fabrique?". Scary stuff [0] https://twitter.com/Mathieu2jean/status/1648394577449984014

The proper personal data hygiene tips are:

0. Never take your primary personal or work cell phone to any demonstration

1. Cover your face, if you can, or wear anti-facial recognition makeup

2. Do not use social media from primary personal devices

3. Anyone intent on trying to join the cause is a cop. Until proven otherwise, anyone you meet is a cop

4. The standard response to any official questions in the future is to deny all allegations, keep quiet, and ask for a lawyer

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#124

Post by 1letterunixname »

jojobas wrote: post #107
helaoban wrote: post #36

Totally totally insane. A revolution is coming, and it will be bloody.

Good luck, their cops confiscate pencils longer than 15cm as weapons, let alone butter knives.

Supposedly, the Met is working on "a few hundred bad apples" this year as a top initiative.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#125

Post by all2 »

Loughla wrote: post #28
andy_ppp wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do wonder if the masses always end up voting in fascists every 50 years or so simply because they forgot that there were some things worth fighting for. Does it feel like to anyone else we are on the precipice of extremely big changes that might not be good for anyone?

I don't think it's forgetting that some things are worth fighting for. I think it's that, after a fascist government is ousted via violence, people spend so much time and effort to demonize them, that Joe Blow on the street doesn't see them as 'Us' anymore. We would never make decisions like They made, so We don't have to worry if Our leader is a fascist. Our leader is nothing like Their leader was, other than in abs…

As social creatures, humans tend to defer to authority and go with the flow. Both of these make for disastrous outcomes, depending on the authority deferred to and the direction of the flow.

Why did so many turn a blind eye to the Holocaust? Why did so many ignore the Holodomor? Why did no one stand against great evil?

Presently, there is debate about whether there is true Evil, as well as some absolute Truth. And if there's no foundation on which to build a case of "this is evil", then why would anyone act? Couple that with the fact that -- at least in the United States -- it is legal for the government to propagandize (re lie) the American peoples, and you have a perfect storm of stress and lies that leads to "I'm alone and there's nothing I can do in face of all that is terrible".

What is one man to do?

The one man at Tianeman Square became an emblem of standing up to tyranny. What if there had been another with him? Or ten more?

Solzhenitsyn claims that a little resistance would have completely disabled the Russian Communists.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#126

Post by kevviiinn »

flangola7 wrote: post #93
eertami wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hypothetically speaking, if you're not a UK resident: Surely you can keep the password on a separate device in another country, and if asked for it, say that you do have know how to get the password, but you can't physically access it without travelling to the other country. You then aren't breaking the rules, as far as I can tell. Of course you can't give them something that is only available in another country, whe…

How would explain you were able to unlock and use the device within in the past minutes or hours? (Which could be easy to prove)

Pass code is randomly generated by a person in the other country and it changes every 15 minutes. You must contact this person to get the code and they cannot be compelled by the laws in your country

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#127

Post by brokenmachine »

barnabee wrote: post #82
jussaying2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even better, the folks who frequent HN could stop aiding authoritarianism by building the tech, but that would require turning down lucrative RSUs, so I'm not holding my breath.

We should not only stop building tech that aids authoritarianism but start building tech that fights it. Time for a cypherpunk revival.

Dystopia is where the real money's at.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#128

Post by TacticalCoder »

phnofive wrote: post #2

The legal system in the UK recognizes several rights against self-incrimination, but there is a carve-out for the per se crime of failing to disclose a key to encrypted information - punishable by years in prison. How is this different than refusing to tell where you've buried the bodies? Why should the police be permitted to assume you're guilty and in possession of vital information under certain circumstances?

> Why should the police be permitted to assume you're guilty and in possession of vital information under certain circumstances?

It shouldn't but... Tacitus, 2000 years ago: "The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the state".

And we have oh so so many laws.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#129

Post by ericbarrett »

negidius wrote: post #57
blibble wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How can the police effectively prove that someone remembers the passcode? if they can prove you were using the phone an hour ago that would probably do it

The stress of being arrested and threatened with years in prison if you don't remember your passcode could very well cause someone to forget it.

A few weeks ago my house sprang a massive leak in the roof during a rainstorm, just as I was preparing for a week-long business trip. I got so stressed, the next morning I forgot the passcode I'd been typing into my iPhone for the last five years. Three days of carefully writing down my attempts didn't work—I hit the ten-mistake limit and the phone auto-wiped.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#130

Post by zamnos »

toyg wrote: post #10
kergonath wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is this different than refusing to tell where you've buried the bodies? They can get away with it because it’s on a computer. The voters don’t care, and the MPs by and large don’t understand. Those who do would love the same principle to apply to the body case as well.

That's because the memory of truly oppressive governments in Western Europe has faded. People who don't remember history, are doomed to repeat it.

Ah! Not to worry, those who do remember history are doomed to watch others repeat it, so I think it's a bit of a wash in the end.
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