I guess I never thought about it really but last week I got a new computer and setup an encrypted drive to boot from. I don't really do anything illegal to hide, weed is legal where I am and no one cares about a guy tripping sometimes. But I have to type my password in everytime I boot my computer now just to unlock the hard drive and it made me wonder if you would be required to give your password up on any encrypted device like a phone or computer or whatever if cops said they needed access for some reason.

Like bro unless you're just trying to get some mp3s and family vacation photos and shit there isn't much on there but I still wouldn't want to give it up just because it defeats the purpose.

Oh yeah this is for the USA. Land of the free lol.

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xaen wrote on December 10, 2020 at 10:57 PM

Key Disclosure Law

within the united states your passwords are protected by the 5th amendment.

fyi at the border it's more of a grey area and they are trying to coerce and compel you to including some possible notion of holding the device for a week or so to inspect it before returning it. You still do not legally need give them the password or entry into the device.

keep in mind, fingerprints and other biometrics are not passwords and for a long time were not protected in the same way. In 2019 it was ruled in Cali to get the same protection, but I'm not sure how far that runs Link

santorihelix wrote on December 10, 2020 at 10:53 PM (edited on December 10, 2020 at 10:54 PM)

From what I gather, judges usually rule key disclosure when the government already knows the information in the device and it's not for getting new evidence but making the evidence available to the court. In any case I don't think the cops can just lawfully request your key, like they can't search your house without a warrant on normal occasions. My question is what happens if you forgot your password for real? Is there any possibility for them to deny that you forgot it except rubber-hose cryptanalysis?

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law#United_States

nameless121 wrote on December 11, 2020 at 11:59 AM

You dont have to. But personally I will just simply comply because it is far more convenient and less time consuming than fighting the law enforcement over such a minor issue especially when you know that you have done nothing illegal. The purpose of me encrypting my data is to prevent it from falling into criminals' hand, not to give law enforcements a hard time when they are trying to strike my name off the suspect list.

Asterix wrote on December 10, 2020 at 10:26 PM (edited on December 10, 2020 at 10:27 PM)

In the USA i think they are free to take your stuff if you dont provide them the encryption password. But dont know for how long they can keep it...

rianav_a wrote on December 11, 2020 at 12:45 AM (edited on December 11, 2020 at 12:51 AM)

There were a couple other cases like this (one in the UK IIRC): https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/02/man-who-refused-to-decrypt-hard-drives-is-free-after-four-years-in-jail/

The dissenting opinion was interesting, I wonder if this got kicked upstairs or did the prosecutors have other fish to fry.

Dman_100 wrote on December 11, 2020 at 3:55 AM

Bruh if they ask for passwords just delete and remove everything than providing that shit to those government stooges.