Presumption of guilt: Your rights when it comes to data

macgyver2 · 08 Dec 2009

Presumption of guilt: Your rights when it comes to data encryption

I thought this an interesting read since windows 7 ultimate has built in encryption

This isn’t about the bad guys; we all know encryption helps defend against them. What isn’t so clear is our rights to data encryption when dealing with the legal system.
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I initially became interested in the topic of data encryption and the law due to the 2005 Minnesota appeals case, State of Minnesota versus Ari David Levie, in which Levie was accused of taking illegal pictures of a minor. I didn’t follow the entire case, just the appeal. The court was deciding whether it was legal or not to enter certain evidence — in this case, the fact that the defendant had an encryption utility on his computer.
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read more at this link

Presumption of guilt: Your rights when it comes to data encryption | IT Security | TechRepublic.com

Qdos · 08 Dec 2009

The legal principles seem to be that you may use encryption to protect you from data theft, but are expected to cooperate with decrypting anything that law enforcement officials request if you've been arrested and are under suspicion of any crime(s).

In the United Kingdom, if you do not decrypt anything which could assist you should you wish to deny responsibility for a crime you're accused of, whatever material you don't make available to the police may well become inadmissable as defence evidence!

Do you know that anyone entering the US with computer hardware can face having it all confiscated without necessarily being told why? US imigration officials are allowed to do this. If your hardware contains encrypted files (or they decide to use forensics to examine your drives) they can keep it almost indefinitely, and your rights to get your hardware back means collecting it from the same place it was confiscated, or paying to have it shipped to you - even if your destination happens to be thousands of miles away.

There's got to be a back door into Bitlocker too...