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I agree with the overall idea that this is an interesting/problematic case, but I think the discussion would be better served if we stopped assuming that the au

I agree with the overall idea that this is an interesting/problematic case, but I think the discussion would be better served if we stopped assuming that the authorities here are morons. No, forgetting your password is not a lifetime sentence. No, not knowing the password for an item you've never seen is not a lifetime sentence either. Refusing to obey a judge's order, however, will get you in trouble. Again, these people are not morons, and if they say the guy is only pretending to have forgotten his password (a dishonest criminal? shocking), they might have a good reason.

hiq 10y ago
The reasons are stated in the article (the suspect never mistyped his password, and always remembered it), and addressed by the commentators you criticize (under pressure and after seven months without typing it, it is not impossible that you forget a possibly complicated password). Even if you think that chances are high that the guy both is guilty of some crime and remembers the password, that still leaves the "what if he is actually innocent and actually forgot his password" case. Indefinite prison sure seems a hard sentence in the latter case, which you cannot refute beyond reasonable doubt.
- zaroth 10y ago
  > The suspect never mistyped his password, and always remembered it They even went so far as to say he always got it right on the first try. I found that very interesting... How would they possibly know that? If they had a key logger obviously they would already know the password. Does FileVault store some indication of failed login count? That isn't reset after a valid login?
  - zaroth 10y ago
    Actually, does this mean that Apple could be logging successful / unsuccessful decryption counts for FireVault volumes? Is there some sort of lock-out feature they are running?
- cwyers 10y ago
  He was in jail for seven months for the contempt charge under discussion -- it's not like he didn't know that's what they wanted from him when he went in.

hiq 10y ago

The reasons are stated in the article (the suspect never mistyped his password, and always remembered it), and addressed by the commentators you criticize (under pressure and after seven months without typing it, it is not impossible that you forget a possibly complicated password). Even if you think that chances are high that the guy both is guilty of some crime and remembers the password, that still leaves the "what if he is actually innocent and actually forgot his password" case. Indefinite prison sure seems a hard sentence in the latter case, which you cannot refute beyond reasonable doubt.

zaroth 10y ago
> The suspect never mistyped his password, and always remembered it They even went so far as to say he always got it right on the first try. I found that very interesting... How would they possibly know that? If they had a key logger obviously they would already know the password. Does FileVault store some indication of failed login count? That isn't reset after a valid login?
- zaroth 10y ago
  Actually, does this mean that Apple could be logging successful / unsuccessful decryption counts for FireVault volumes? Is there some sort of lock-out feature they are running?
cwyers 10y ago
He was in jail for seven months for the contempt charge under discussion -- it's not like he didn't know that's what they wanted from him when he went in.