Feds Want Judge to Force Suspect to Give Up Laptop Password

January 6th, 2012

Reader Question: Which Encryption Software Do I Use?

M emailed to ask about the encryption software that I use.

For full disk encryption, I use TrueCrypt. Whether or not you believe that TrueCrypt can protect your data from all attackers, when used properly, it can definitely protect your data from attackers that you are likely to encounter, for example, your children, thieves, your local and national police forces, etc.

For email, I use the outstanding Enigmail frontend to GPG, which is fully integrated with Thunderbird.

I’m not going to get into the of the ifs-ands-and-buts related to this, but let it suffice to say that there are many. In general, though, it’s like I said above: If the attacker is the kid down the street or the pigs, this stuff can make your data relatively secure.

—End Update—

While we hear about these criminal cases, where the government alleges to not have access to the system because of the encryption, we never hear about what happens to the laptops with full disk encryption that are seized from people at airports…

Via: Wired:

Federal prosecutors want a judge to order a Colorado woman to provide the password to decrypt her laptop, which the government seized with a search warrant.

With backup from digital rights groups, the woman is fighting the feds, arguing that being forced to provide her password violates the Fifth Amendment’s protection against forced self-incrimination.

Colorado U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn is expected to rule any day on whether to force defendant Ramona Fricosu to decrypt her Toshiba Satellite M305, which authorities seized from her in 2010 with a court warrant while investigating financial fraud.

The case is being closely watched by digital rights groups, as the issue has never been squarely weighed in on by federal courts, and the Supreme Court has never addressed the issue.

Related: New Year’s Resolution: Full Disk Encryption on Every Computer You Own

Research Credit: roaches

Posted in Dictatorship, Surveillance, Technology | Top Of Page

One Response to “Feds Want Judge to Force Suspect to Give Up Laptop Password”

  1. Noble says:
    January 7, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    You can have my private keys and passphrases when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

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