Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US District Ct. Says Defendant Must Provide Decrypted Data

Posted by timothy on from the narrow-ruling dept.

An anonymous reader writes "If you're planning on traveling internationally with a laptop, consider the following: District Court Overturns Magistrate Judge in Fifth Amendment Encryption Case. Laptop searches at the border have been discussed many times previously. This is the case where a man entered the country allegedly carrying pornographic material in an encrypted file on his laptop. He initially cooperated with border agents during the search of the laptop then later decided not to cooperate citing the Fifth Amendment. Last year a magistrate judge ruled that compelling the man to enter his password would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Now in a narrow ruling, US District Judge William K. Sessions III said the man had waived his right against self-incrimination when he initially cooperated with border agents." sohp notes that "the order is not that he produce the key — just that he provide an unencrypted copy."

8 of 767 comments (clear)

  1. 5th Amendment by alain94040 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FTA:

    Boucher lost his Fifth Amendment privilege when he admitted that it was his computer and that he stored images in the encrypted part of the hard drive.

    I don't know anything about the 5th Amendment, but I was under the impression that it was way stronger than this quote suggests. Just because I admitted that it's my laptop, I now can't take the 5th? In movies at least, that's not how it works :-)

    Imagine if you treated the 1st Amendment the same way... we'd be in serious trouble. "By admitting that you have an opinion contrary to the government, you gave up your rights to free speech".

    1. Re:5th Amendment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      By living in this country, you hereby have been co-operating with the government, and have therefore waived all your rights.

      I only wish I was joking more than I am...

    2. Re:5th Amendment by neoform · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the files were encrypted, there's no way the police could have identified any of the files. It was his fault for helping the police in the first place.

      You should never talk to the police, their only interest is incriminating you in a crime, not the other way around.

      --
      MABASPLOOM!
    3. Re:5th Amendment by palegray.net · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How about a system where, depending on which key you enter, the decrypted contents differ?

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    4. Re:5th Amendment by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      You know....it sounds even more basic to me.

      NEVER cooperate with the cops. If you are about to get in trouble, clam up...get lawyered up.

      Once you start to cooperate a little, it appears....you can start to give up rights you have.

      Some good info is here. Also, look up a film they did, it is available for free called Busted.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. Initial cooperation by Imagix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So if you initially cooperate, you can no longer claim 5th amendment protections? Hmm... you "initially cooperated" with the police when you said what your name was. You can no longer claim the 5th amendment. Slippery slope anyone? (Good thing I'm not American)

  3. Re:We need a destruction password in crypt! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IAAL and this does not sound like a good idea.

    In a forensic situation the first thing which would be done is an image of the system.

    Sure imaging is not feasible for border patrol style searches, but if it is a CP or terrorism case, odds are the police would have taken a backup of your machine to start off with.

    Giving them a self-destructive code would likely achieve nothing in the circumstance other then land you in further trouble (for obstructing a police investigation, lying, misleading the Court etc...) - even if the original charges and allegations are later proven to be false.

  4. Re:Whats on the laptop, son? by alain94040 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I always wondered about the point of those things

    There's actually a very good reason for those questions. Of course it's not to find terrorists by hoping that they answer yes to the question when crossing the border.

    The trick is that since the terrorist will say no, they can be deported for lying on an immigration form, which has much less of a legal burden than proving that they actually are terrorists. Just like Al Capone, if you can't catch them for their crime, get them on a technicality.

    It's that simple.