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Fire is irreversible. Once the original good is destroyed, it can't be read or written to by the burner or anyone else. After evidence is destroyed, it only exi
by txru 7y ago
Fire is irreversible. Once the original good is destroyed, it can't be read or written to by the burner or anyone else. After evidence is destroyed, it only exists in (human) memory.
Encryption is reversible. The information encrypted can be retrieved, changed, shared, etc. It proves itself potentially continually useful to the person who would hide evidence.
- saagarjha 7y agoEncryption is irreversible if I throw away the key, just as burning paper is irreversible once I light it on fire.
- txru 7y agoOk, so a suspect tells the judge under oath that they encrypted the evidence, and the key is gone, as if it had been burned. Just as in burning with a fire, that suspect can be charged with willful destruction of evidence or obstruction of justice, contingent on mens rea. The judge may be unlikely to believe that the data is irretrievably encrypted, just as they may be unlikely to believe all records were burned.