Posted on 07/11/2011 10:39:22 AM PDT by Smogger
The Colorado prosecution of a woman accused of a mortgage scam will test whether the government can punish you for refusing to disclose your encryption passphrase. The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to order the defendant, Ramona Fricosu, to decrypt an encrypted laptop that police found in her bedroom during a raid of her home.
Because Fricosu has opposed the proposal, this could turn into a precedent-setting case. No U.S. appeals court appears to have ruled on whether such an order would be legal or not under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which broadly protects Americans' right to remain silent.
In a brief filed last Friday, Fricosu's Colorado Springs-based attorney, Philip Dubois, said defendants can't be constitutionally obligated to help the government interpret their files. "If agents execute a search warrant and find, say, a diary handwritten in code, could the target be compelled to decode, i.e., decrypt, the diary?"
...
"Decrypting the data on the laptop can be, in and of itself, a testimonial act--revealing control over a computer and the files on it," said EFF Senior staff attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Ordering the defendant to enter an encryption password puts her in the situation the Fifth Amendment was designed to prevent: having to choose between incriminating herself, lying under oath, or risking contempt of court."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.cnet.com ...
Hey they can force you to buy health insurance. Why not reveal a password?
Ah, I have it... 'youwankerscouldntcatchtheclapinawhorehouse'. Nope, that's not it either. Try...
Any intelligent investigator will make an image copy of the hard drive before doing anything else.
“I don’t recall (the password).”
Actually it is possible. You just have to write over the data several times. I’ve seen the technique used to get the old data under it and severas writes (It used to be like 7) and no way you’re getting the data back.
Also keep in mind the data is encrypted! So they’d first have to recover what was there...then decrypt it! Good luck with that.
You always buy Evidence Eliminator, or something similar.
If you forget the password to your safe they will just break it open. They can’t “compel” your further then say asking you nicely. You can’t break open encryption like that.
One password lets you in.
The other password shreds the data.
And once you enter the "shred" password, it's too late.
"The Iron maiden?"
"Drawing and quartering?"
"Water boarding that is prohibited from being used on mortal enemies?
"Good luck with that."
Yeah.
But did he talk?
Seems to me torture, even if failed, resulting in death or great bodily harm of a person not yet judged and convicted of anything is closer to a capital offense than refusing to divulge possible criminal material.
Anything is "possible."
Now I have to change the combination on MY luggage......
So the Fifth no longer is valid.
Good to know I guess.
Put Chloe O’Brien on it, it’ll be decripted before an hour is up.
NSA wouldn’t decrypt something for such purposes. Doing so could reveal their real capability (a la “oh crap! NSA _can_ break a 1024-bit key! better switch to bigger keys after all...”).
And I’m sure they _can_ crack pretty much anything. Acres of supercomputers and encryption technology 5-15 years ahead of anything public.
When I was encrypting stuff (I quit because it was just too much trouble considering I’m pure as the driven snow, and nothing illegal is on my computer), I invented a phrase containing both capitals and lower-case letters, symbols, and numbers, that would mean absolutely nothing to anyone else, but was easy for me to memorize.
Hard to say what it would be for you, but I suggest literary references, personal experiences, or even some dream you had that you still remember.
LOL
I have used a conglomeration of “Special Fonts” from my Mac’s email program. Letters, numbers, symbols, etc., mix in a few Chinese pictos, squares, triangles,,,, I’d include an example, but FR doesn’t have the ability to show it.
lol
If the NSA wanted to decrypt it... it would be decrypted, period.
You think if that was Osama’s laptop they would just say... oh well! he didn’t give us the password!!!
ROFL
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