3 ms·

If I'm a paranoid tech journalist (I'm not), everything would be tucked away in a hidden TrueCrypt volume masked as a swap file, and all my other files would be

If I'm a paranoid tech journalist (I'm not), everything would be tucked away in a hidden TrueCrypt volume masked as a swap file, and all my other files would be in the cloud. Not sure seizures are even useful in such a case.

protomyth 17y ago
I get the feeling that your "cloud" service provider will turn over your stuff quickly and inform you later.
- slantyyz 17y ago
  That's still an uphill battle, especially if stuff ain't hosted in the country you live in. Like I said, I'm not paranoid, so I don't have time to go to such lengths, but simply having physical access to a computer these days may not yield nearly as much evidence as it may have a decade ago.
  - kjhgfghjklkjh 17y ago
    It can yield a lot more useful evidence though. You can't get the guy for the iPhone thing - but you now have: Every website he has visited (are all those boys/girls/sheep over 18?) Every book/dvd/toy he has bought - did he declare state tax on all the stuff from Amazon. All his tax and business records. Everywhere he has been, everyone he has phoned,emailed, texted tweeted. The police could get all this from other sources - but imagine going to a judge and saying "we can't prove the phone was stolen - so can we check all tax records for 10years in the hope of getting him for something else?" But by getting a warrant for computers they have a fishing expedition for his whole life.
    - slantyyz 17y ago
      The only point I was trying to make, which may have been missed, is that it's much easier to keep what you're doing anonymous than it has been in the past, by: 1 - using encrypted volumes 2 - putting stuff in the cloud (encrypted where possible) 3 - using the anonymous browsing mode (which most popular browsers support)
    - ErrantX 17y ago
      No they do not. Not at all. If I'm looking at a computer I may keep an eye out for overtly illegal stuff, but you cannot go fishing. It's probably inadmissable for a start.
- wizard_2 17y ago
  IANAL but I don't think they can compel you to give your truecrypt passwords as they're in your head. There was an ongoing court case (involving child pornography) about this topic.
  - slantyyz 17y ago
    Even then, I think TrueCrypt lets you create a second volume within the initial volume, and leaves no trace that the second volume even exists.
    - pyre 17y ago
      The problem therein is programs that record your 'most recent documents.' If they refer to documents that aren't anywhere in what they confiscated, and/or on a volume that doesn't exist they may suspect that you have a hidden volume.
  - pyre 17y ago
    IIRC, in that case the guy unlocked his encrypted drive for a border agent, the border agent saw child porn, then the computer was turned off (disabling access to the encrypted drive). The guy already showed the authorities that he had incriminating evidence on his encrypted drive. It's not exactly the poster-child case for being compelled to turn over your encryption keys/passwords.
- Groxx 17y ago
  This is assuming you keep unencrypted stuff on the cloud. If you're TrueCrypting your entire drive, you probably won't leave anything unencrypted elsewhere unless it's totally innocuous.
ErrantX 17y ago
It's a good idea - and will definitely help. However it's very hard to hide everything simply because your operating systems and programs love to store stuff. One solution might be to use a vm stored inside an encrypted partition. So all that "meta" information is also encrypted - and the host is just clean.

protomyth 17y ago

I get the feeling that your "cloud" service provider will turn over your stuff quickly and inform you later.

slantyyz 17y ago
That's still an uphill battle, especially if stuff ain't hosted in the country you live in. Like I said, I'm not paranoid, so I don't have time to go to such lengths, but simply having physical access to a computer these days may not yield nearly as much evidence as it may have a decade ago.
- kjhgfghjklkjh 17y ago
  It can yield a lot more useful evidence though. You can't get the guy for the iPhone thing - but you now have: Every website he has visited (are all those boys/girls/sheep over 18?) Every book/dvd/toy he has bought - did he declare state tax on all the stuff from Amazon. All his tax and business records. Everywhere he has been, everyone he has phoned,emailed, texted tweeted. The police could get all this from other sources - but imagine going to a judge and saying "we can't prove the phone was stolen - so can we check all tax records for 10years in the hope of getting him for something else?" But by getting a warrant for computers they have a fishing expedition for his whole life.
  - slantyyz 17y ago
    The only point I was trying to make, which may have been missed, is that it's much easier to keep what you're doing anonymous than it has been in the past, by: 1 - using encrypted volumes 2 - putting stuff in the cloud (encrypted where possible) 3 - using the anonymous browsing mode (which most popular browsers support)
  - ErrantX 17y ago
    No they do not. Not at all. If I'm looking at a computer I may keep an eye out for overtly illegal stuff, but you cannot go fishing. It's probably inadmissable for a start.
wizard_2 17y ago
IANAL but I don't think they can compel you to give your truecrypt passwords as they're in your head. There was an ongoing court case (involving child pornography) about this topic.
- slantyyz 17y ago
  Even then, I think TrueCrypt lets you create a second volume within the initial volume, and leaves no trace that the second volume even exists.
  - pyre 17y ago
    The problem therein is programs that record your 'most recent documents.' If they refer to documents that aren't anywhere in what they confiscated, and/or on a volume that doesn't exist they may suspect that you have a hidden volume.
- pyre 17y ago
  IIRC, in that case the guy unlocked his encrypted drive for a border agent, the border agent saw child porn, then the computer was turned off (disabling access to the encrypted drive). The guy already showed the authorities that he had incriminating evidence on his encrypted drive. It's not exactly the poster-child case for being compelled to turn over your encryption keys/passwords.
Groxx 17y ago
This is assuming you keep unencrypted stuff on the cloud. If you're TrueCrypting your entire drive, you probably won't leave anything unencrypted elsewhere unless it's totally innocuous.

ErrantX 17y ago

It's a good idea - and will definitely help. However it's very hard to hide everything simply because your operating systems and programs love to store stuff. One solution might be to use a vm stored inside an encrypted partition. So all that "meta" information is also encrypted - and the host is just clean.