4 ms·

> one can obtain a search warrant and this forces you to possibly act against your own best interest by allowing the police to search your home. In Germany you

by skrause 10y ago

> one can obtain a search warrant and this forces you to possibly act against your own best interest by allowing the police to search your home. In Germany you never have to actively help the police even if they come with a warrant. They can't even compel you to open the door of the house or a physical safe. They will of course come in anyway and send you the bill for the locksmith, but it's your perfect right to just sit there and do nothing. So with the hard disk encryption it's actually exactly the same: You don't have to help in any way, but of course the police can still take the drive and try to decrypt it. If they can't decrypt, well, bad luck. Not your problem, you don't have to help.

danbruc 10y ago
You made me realize that I was probably wrong here, i.e. you do not have to allow the the police to enter your home acting against your own best interest, and as far as I can tell this also applies to the USA. This raises the question if there is any other situation where you have to act against your own best interest, otherwise my initial argument falls apart and it seems unreasonable to try to force someone to decrypt his hard drive. Another question is, how far can I push the search warrant scenario? Am I allowed to use force against the police to prevent them from entering in the same way I may use force against burglars? Am I allowed to shoot at the police? Not that it would buy you much, it is pretty unlikely that you can hide at home forever, but from a purely theoretical standpoint?
- vorticalbox 10y ago
  Pretty sure that you don't have to help them but you can't stop them. So it will all depend on which side of the fence you land. Whether not giving up keys is jot helping or is it stopping them.
- literallycancer 10y ago
  I'd guess no one can fault you for assuming it's a home invasion in case the LE fail to identify themselves. The downside is that you'll probably end up dead, since the police (in the US especially) have a record of killing even people who don't shoot at them.

by skrause 10y ago

danbruc 10y ago

You made me realize that I was probably wrong here, i.e. you do not have to allow the the police to enter your home acting against your own best interest, and as far as I can tell this also applies to the USA. This raises the question if there is any other situation where you have to act against your own best interest, otherwise my initial argument falls apart and it seems unreasonable to try to force someone to decrypt his hard drive. Another question is, how far can I push the search warrant scenario? Am I allowed to use force against the police to prevent them from entering in the same way I may use force against burglars? Am I allowed to shoot at the police? Not that it would buy you much, it is pretty unlikely that you can hide at home forever, but from a purely theoretical standpoint?

vorticalbox 10y ago
Pretty sure that you don't have to help them but you can't stop them. So it will all depend on which side of the fence you land. Whether not giving up keys is jot helping or is it stopping them.
literallycancer 10y ago
I'd guess no one can fault you for assuming it's a home invasion in case the LE fail to identify themselves. The downside is that you'll probably end up dead, since the police (in the US especially) have a record of killing even people who don't shoot at them.