I was talking about the general situation - the grandparent post talks about his wife's access for example. I also said a competent attacker. Also, I wasn't s

I was talking about the general situation - the grandparent post talks about his wife's access for example. I also said a competent attacker. Also, I wasn't saying that disk encryption is worthless. If your laptop gets stolen by someone who has not previously had access to your computer (or confiscated at a border) then your data is secure. I agree with your point about the BIOS password.