Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 241 posts

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

#141

Post by justinclift »

all2 wrote: post #125
Loughla wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> The one man at Tianeman Square became an emblem of standing up to tyranny.

And was never seen again. :/

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

#143

Post by flangola7 »

kevviiinn wrote: post #126
flangola7 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

How do you set that up on an Android or iOS device?

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

#144

Post by anonzzzies »

ericbarrett wrote: post #129
negidius wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I invalidated my debit card in a similar event. I used it hours before but suddenly for the life of me I couldn’t remember the 4 digits and nor could my fingers. It was after I heard about a death of a relative. Eventually I remembered but the card was already useless and a new one had been dispatched to me.

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

#145

Post by flangola7 »

barney54 wrote: post #133
flangola7 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't remain silent then what are you supposed to do to not accidentally incriminate yourself?

You say nothing about the alleged crime and instead ask for an attorney. Remember this important advice—shut the fuck up. https://youtu.be/sgWHrkDX35o

That video is about US law. The above comment says shutting the fuck up can be used as a negative inference against you in court.

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

#146

Post by eviks »

Manuel_D wrote: post #23
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?

And perhaps more importantly, it becomes a de-facto crime to ever forget an encryption key. People forget the passkeys to crypto wallets all the time, losing millions. How can the police effectively prove that someone remembers the passcode? What if someone, after a few months in prison, says they've reconsidered and are willing to comply. They try to decrypt it but fail and subsequently say they the stress of incarc…

They can do it the same way they prove everything else - ineffectively

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

#147

Post by eviks »

ericbarrett wrote: post #129
negidius wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, 10 is a stupidly low limit, it won't save you from some hackers, and it won't help you much when you forget

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

#148

Post by anonzzzies »

itg wrote: post #105

I would really like to see an implementation where entering different passcodes unlocks different profiles on your phone. For example, your real phone profile data is behind one passcode, and then you can unlock a decoy phone profile when entering a different passcode.

Yep 1234 for my real profile, 4321 for my cat pictures profile.

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

#149

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

tristor wrote: post #95
flangola7 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't remain silent then what are you supposed to do to not accidentally incriminate yourself?

This is one of the reasons why other countries outside the US aren't as free as the US, even though the US is a complete mess too in different ways. Freedom of both speech and silence are not really respected in law anywhere outside the US to the extent that they are in the US.

The US has guilty pleas, plea bargaining and entrapment. Next to that the right to avoid self-incrimination, which also exists in a lot of Western country, feels like a footnote.

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

#150

Post by kergonath »

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…

Primo Levi had a strong argument along those lines. We must not deny their humanity or call them or their actions inhuman. First, that would be doing them what they did to a lot of people (Jews, but not only). Then, it is in a way providing them excuses by holding three to a different standard. Finally, it would make it seem like regular, normal people are incapable of doing the same thing. Historical evidence shows that yes, normal people can do this.

> When we remove the humanity from the monsters, we fail to remember that we could be monsters, too.

I could not agree more.

Post reply on HN