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The problem is, if they are serious and suspect you might be prepared and technical savvy, they will never allow you to operate the device.

eloisius 5y ago
Yep. Pretty much all nerd solutions to physical or legal threats are genius but also worse than useless. Here's a $5 hammer, hit him with it until he gives us what we're looking for, so goes the comic I saw once.
- kortilla 5y ago
  That’s why it needs to be destructive. You can’t beat access to something out of someone if it has been deleted.
  - nkrisc 5y ago
    While true, they may beat you anyway just to be sure.
    - ASalazarMX 5y ago
      Big opportunity to implement a kill-switch if the microphone recognizes your screams!
- jamessb 5y ago
  > Here's a $5 hammer, hit him with it until he gives us what we're looking for, so goes the comic I saw once. You are probably thinking of the $5 wrench in https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/
- djweis 5y ago
  That's referred to as rubber hose cryptography.
  - dane-pgp 5y ago
    That's also why Assange (and others) developed the Rubberhose file system[0]. It's based on the game theoretic idea that if your adversary has no way of knowing how many hidden partitions you have, then you have no way of proving to them that you've given them all your secrets. As such, there is no benefit to you revealing any secrets under torture, because the torture would continue even after you've told them everything, therefore there is no point to them torturing you in the first place. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_%28file_system%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_%28file_system%29
    - ASalazarMX 5y ago
      "JOB OPPORTUNITY: Assassins and mercenaries required. Must be proficient in game theory". In reality they will torture you until you stop decrypting partitions, and then a bit more of special torture, just in case.
      - dane-pgp 5y ago
        If they don't understand game theory, that just means they will act sub-optimally. In any case, the correct strategy for the user is still to not decrypt any partitions, since, as you say, the sooner the user stops decrypting, the sooner the torturers give up.
        r-w 5y ago
        I don't think either of has met someone who engages in actual torture, but I imagine they rarely, if ever, “give up”.
    - multjoy 5y ago
      A state liable to torture you may simply kill you instead. Or torture you and kill you, even if it serves no particular purpose. If you're in the business of protecting your secrets against torture then you need to also be protecting them against death because that is grimly inevitable.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  This is effective against legal threats. I remember at least one case in my country where one person was saved by truecrypt. They even asked the FBI for help on decrypting it. Hopefully civilization is not so far gone that police will imprison, torture or kill for failing to incriminate themselves. If it gets to the point cold-blooded torture is on the table, you'll probably get killed anyway.

eloisius 5y ago

Yep. Pretty much all nerd solutions to physical or legal threats are genius but also worse than useless. Here's a $5 hammer, hit him with it until he gives us what we're looking for, so goes the comic I saw once.

kortilla 5y ago
That’s why it needs to be destructive. You can’t beat access to something out of someone if it has been deleted.
- nkrisc 5y ago
  While true, they may beat you anyway just to be sure.
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    Big opportunity to implement a kill-switch if the microphone recognizes your screams!
jamessb 5y ago
> Here's a $5 hammer, hit him with it until he gives us what we're looking for, so goes the comic I saw once. You are probably thinking of the $5 wrench in https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/
djweis 5y ago
That's referred to as rubber hose cryptography.
- dane-pgp 5y ago
  That's also why Assange (and others) developed the Rubberhose file system[0]. It's based on the game theoretic idea that if your adversary has no way of knowing how many hidden partitions you have, then you have no way of proving to them that you've given them all your secrets. As such, there is no benefit to you revealing any secrets under torture, because the torture would continue even after you've told them everything, therefore there is no point to them torturing you in the first place. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_%28file_system%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_%28file_system%29
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    "JOB OPPORTUNITY: Assassins and mercenaries required. Must be proficient in game theory". In reality they will torture you until you stop decrypting partitions, and then a bit more of special torture, just in case.
    - dane-pgp 5y ago
      If they don't understand game theory, that just means they will act sub-optimally. In any case, the correct strategy for the user is still to not decrypt any partitions, since, as you say, the sooner the user stops decrypting, the sooner the torturers give up.
      - r-w 5y ago
        I don't think either of has met someone who engages in actual torture, but I imagine they rarely, if ever, “give up”.
  - multjoy 5y ago
    A state liable to torture you may simply kill you instead. Or torture you and kill you, even if it serves no particular purpose. If you're in the business of protecting your secrets against torture then you need to also be protecting them against death because that is grimly inevitable.
matheusmoreira 5y ago
This is effective against legal threats. I remember at least one case in my country where one person was saved by truecrypt. They even asked the FBI for help on decrypting it. Hopefully civilization is not so far gone that police will imprison, torture or kill for failing to incriminate themselves. If it gets to the point cold-blooded torture is on the table, you'll probably get killed anyway.