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This sounds a bit paranoid. You give the police too much credit. Lying to the public to scare off people from using Linux encryption?

• kazinator 4y ago
  Might you be confusing skepticism with paranoia? They are almost opposite: the paranoiac is too willing to believe; a skeptic can be too unwilling. Police perpetrating bluffs on people they have in custody is standard operating procedure. I wouldn't weave the "scare people from using Linux encryption" narrative into it, though; I don't think that would be their motivation. (Though it could be a counterproductive unintended effect. The last thing authorities want it spooking people into finding better encryption.) Anyway, I suspect that in situations in which cops really crack someone's hard drive at great expense, it mostly behooves them to take advantage of whatever they learn, while keeping secret how they got it. If you have someone in custody who thinks their hard drive is safe, while you have secretly cracked it, that gives you an information advantage you can use at a strategic time.