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What about using a scheme where the only copy of the key is easily destroyed when needed? Something like private key stored on a USB flash drive with hidden "au
by effie 11y ago
What about using a scheme where the only copy of the key is easily destroyed when needed? Something like private key stored on a USB flash drive with hidden "auto-destruct" button. If the owner sees the situation coming, he just says to the criminal: "The only copy of the private key was stored on this disk. I've just destroyed it. There's no point in torturing me." Seems to prevent both violation of privacy and torture. The criminal must believe there is no other copy, though.
- derefr 11y agoThat sort of thing is usually taken as an admission of guilt as to the contents of the encrypted material, as far as being charged with an actual crime (rather than just held indefinitely without charge) is concerned. Instead of holding you illegally, they're now holding you legally. On the other hand, if you can remove the active mens rea component, this is a good solution. I imagine law enforcement is actively trying to prevent any software with a dead man's switch key-destruction component from ever becoming popular/ubiquitous, because it would enable people to claim they truly had no idea the software had a feature where their key would be destroyed in such a scenario; they were just using it because everyone else was. Imagine if BitLocker/FileVault had a mechanism like that, which could be forced on users by corporate policy!