5 ms·

That man may still be in prison, but that drive is still encrypted. If you are unwilling to give something you know to someone, no amount of force can take it

by castis 9y ago

That man may still be in prison, but that drive is still encrypted. If you are unwilling to give something you know to someone, no amount of force can take it from you. Had that drive been encrypted using facial biometrics, they could have just knocked him out, glued his eyes open, and taken what they wanted. What works, and what has been deemed legal, as you probably already know, are not mutually exclusive.

nimchimpsky 9y ago
Which is torture, so they could do that until he tells them the passcode aswell.
- castis 9y ago
  It's true that torturing a person is an effective way to change what that person wants. It doesn't always end with the torturer getting what they want, though.
EGreg 9y ago
Why do people assume that deniability results in more whacking? Technology can easily be used to encrypt a hard drive to reveal different things for different passwords. TrueCrypt does it. Plus you can have cryptographic keys stored with friends or beacons that signify you are safe. For example you hide files on your phone before a flight, and to unhide them you need your host's wifi at your destination. Until the friend or beacon gives the ok, you can either have your phone LOCKED or have all sorts of files that are encrypted and HIDDEN. The computer can be unlocked but won't show those files. Why isn't this technology widespread? YOU CANT WHACK EVERYONE!
- tdb7893 9y ago
  This might not be a commonly held view but in my experience societal norms and values are the only thing really protecting us. If the police come after me and the courts don't stop them nothing will make a difference, even with the best cryptography all they would have to do is threaten my family and I would always unlock it. In my view technological protections of fundamental freedoms should only be temporary stopgaps for what essentially needs to be political solutions.
- StephenConnell 9y ago
  That's what we did with our TI86 calculators in the 90s. Fake memory Clear was the name of one app. Teacher looks and sees what looks like a formatted calculator, clears the calculator if they want, then you exit the app and access your notes, games, and apps.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > Why do people assume that deniability results in more whacking? Contempt?

by castis 9y ago

nimchimpsky 9y ago

Which is torture, so they could do that until he tells them the passcode aswell.

castis 9y ago
It's true that torturing a person is an effective way to change what that person wants. It doesn't always end with the torturer getting what they want, though.

EGreg 9y ago

Why do people assume that deniability results in more whacking? Technology can easily be used to encrypt a hard drive to reveal different things for different passwords. TrueCrypt does it. Plus you can have cryptographic keys stored with friends or beacons that signify you are safe. For example you hide files on your phone before a flight, and to unhide them you need your host's wifi at your destination. Until the friend or beacon gives the ok, you can either have your phone LOCKED or have all sorts of files that are encrypted and HIDDEN. The computer can be unlocked but won't show those files. Why isn't this technology widespread? YOU CANT WHACK EVERYONE!

tdb7893 9y ago
This might not be a commonly held view but in my experience societal norms and values are the only thing really protecting us. If the police come after me and the courts don't stop them nothing will make a difference, even with the best cryptography all they would have to do is threaten my family and I would always unlock it. In my view technological protections of fundamental freedoms should only be temporary stopgaps for what essentially needs to be political solutions.
StephenConnell 9y ago
That's what we did with our TI86 calculators in the 90s. Fake memory Clear was the name of one app. Teacher looks and sees what looks like a formatted calculator, clears the calculator if they want, then you exit the app and access your notes, games, and apps.
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> Why do people assume that deniability results in more whacking? Contempt?