The destruction of liberty

[Sol]

You could do it with one time pad encryption, one key decrypts the data to something harmless, another to something incriminating either way they have exactly the expected amount of data. Of course you then have the problem of storing the keys safely...

 

[Chewy509]

and that it might "require significant resources and may harm the subject computer" if the authorities tried to crack the encryption.

Umm, use of crypto of meant to make it hard to get the original message... Anyway the 2nd part I would call BS, as IIRC current methodology is to clone the current/original HDD and only work on the copies, never on the original, so loss of informational state can never happen... (To work on the original would be akin to destroying original evidence).

Also, one way around it, would be to use secure tokens, eg...

You use a password to gain access to a system, but need a token (which can be just a 512bit key on a USB key, smartcard, or even a SD card) that is needed to decrypt your home partition... Without either part, access is largely mute. (And if it's a USB key, and the cops lose it or don't recognise it as a secure token, then that's not your problem - you can say with total truth that they have the secure token needed to decrypt the partition, as it would be nearly impossible for the average person to remember a 512bit binary string).

 

[Mercutio]

Mildly amusing tidbit relating the Megaupload saga:
The morbidly obese multimillionaire who owned the site had a bunch of hip hop stars record a song in support of his service. Apparently those people are actually celebrities for some value of that term.
Also, he was apparently ranked as the #1 player of MW3 on Xbox Live prior to his arrest. The link has a picture, so you can see exactly what a #1 ranked MW3 on Xbox player looks like. I assure you that you will not be surprised.

Anyway, the guy is clearly every kind of awesome there is on the internet. He was living the dream.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

It could be worse, you could be a 12 year old child in Australia getting strip searched twice.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-29/outrage-after-12yo-girl-strip-searched/3798640

Why the second search? Apparently the victim was acting nervous. Well wouldn't you be nervous if you've just been strip searched by two cops in front of your mother? I just don't understand the 2nd search, did they cock up the first one and do it improperly?

 

[ddrueding]

It could be worse, you could be a 12 year old child in Australia getting strip searched twice.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-29/outrage-after-12yo-girl-strip-searched/3798640

Why the second search? Apparently the victim was acting nervous. Well wouldn't you be nervous if you've just been strip searched by two cops in front of your mother? I just don't understand the 2nd search, did they cock up the first one and do it improperly?

Or they are pedophiles. It used to be that you had to be a priest or coach, now you can be TSA.

 

[Handruin]

Getting slightly offtopic in regards to SOPA/PIPA, a judge in the US ordered someone to provide the crypto keys and/or password so that police are able decrypt their personal computer in order to look for evidence...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-5...icans-can-be-forced-to-decrypt-their-laptops/

So in the US at least (if the order gets through the appeals process), use of crypto to safe guard against police investigation is no longer a viable measure. (And I thought the 5th admendment was there to protect against this type of action, eg giving over evidence that may be used against you).

Mind you, if you're using our own personal computer to illegal activities, best to use external media to store your stuff... and hide it really, really well... The more they have to wade through, the more sloppy they'll be in finding stuff...

Interesting timing on the question of the 5th amendment. Another CNN article discussing a judge requesting a woman to decrypt her hard drive on her laptop.

A slight resurface to this thread on the judge ordering the decryption.

US Appeals Court Upholds Suspect's Right To Refuse Decryption.

"The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has found that forcing a suspect to decrypt his hard drive when the government did not already know what it contained would violate his 5th Amendment rights. According to Orin Kerr of the Volohk Conspiracy, 'the court's analysis (PDF) isn't inconsistent with Boucher and Fricosu, the two district court cases on 5th Amendment limits on decryption. In both of those prior cases, the district courts merely held on the facts of the case that the testimony was a foregone conclusion.'"

 

[Chewy509]

At least there is some sense left...

 

[Santilli]

I was reading youtube, and someone commented that he looked at the U.S. as being very scary. A country where 50 people own more wealth then 50% of the people, and guess who runs it.
I wonder if one, thats true, and if so, if that is the other nation perception of our country?

The scary part is I feel the exact same way about some of the Middle Eastern countries with dictators...

 

[ddrueding]

I suspect that the wealthiest individuals in each country either directly or indirectly run every country. The only exception would be some of the smaller useful nations (tax code, labor practices, natural resources, extradition treaties) that are "run" by the wealthiest people in the world. The advantage of those middle eastern countries is that they are honest about it.

 

[Mercutio]

Someone in Quebec has a sense of humor about their electioneering.

 

[MaxBurn]

Oh well everythings OK now right?

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/1/2835509/colorado-encrypted-laptop-ruling-moot-hard-drive-decrypted

 

[Mercutio]

Note to self: never, ever re-use or write down passwords for anything.

 

[ddrueding]

Note to self: never, ever re-use or write down passwords for anything.

I would prefix that with "for stuff that matters", The password I use here is the same as a few other (equally non-critical) places.

 

[BingBangBop]

I have to admit that I reuse passwords regularly. For places that I really need a quality password I have a god-awful long string of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, punctuation memorized that started out as a model number to an abstract piece of HW which so far I've only used encrypting HD's. My best defense is that I'm so boring and unimportant that no one would ever bother trying to hack me for the effort would never be worthwhile.

I find it ironic that a couple of days after a federal appeals court overturned a judges order to unencrypt a HD the FBI successfully hacked into it.

 

[Mercutio]

I use "seed phrases" to generate good passwords for things that need them, quotes from books or movies or something that revolve around some common theme. Lately I've also taken to using the XKCD example and just combine two or three memorable words with some punctuation between.

Web site passwords revolve around some theme, but I modify what I use so that I don't widely re-use any one password and generally have a decent idea of what combinations of things I could try if I don't remember.