Re: [Telecom] If Your Hard Drive Could Testify ...

Jan 08, 2008 2 Replies

Rate this thread:

RadicalModerate 18 years ago

Sidebar

> If Your Hard Drive Could Testify ...

[...]

Rummaging through a computer's hard drive, the government
> says, is no different than looking through a suitcase.
> One federal appeals court has agreed, and a second seems ready to > follow suit.
> ...
>

formatting link

So what do you think Customs will do if they spot a "TrueCrypt" container; make you give up the passphrase or security file to it? TrueCrypt has a feature where you can specify any filespec[1] as the encryption key :) Keeps out the casual snoops anyway.

[1] What Microsoft calls a "well-formed pathname"

-- The published From: address is a trap.

***** Moderator's Note *****

The Digest does not endorse any particular encryption product or method: before seeking commercial solutions, readers are advised to investigate the free, military-grade encryption provided by Gnu Privacy Guard.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

Vote

Ron 18 years ago

The courts have ruled on this. The government can't force you to provide the key- it violates the fifth amendment.

formatting link

Note that this is true only on entering the U.S. Other countries may differ. For instance, British law requires you to provide the pass phrase on their demand.

Vote

Dave Garland 18 years ago

TrueCrypt (which is free and open source) also will let you create a container that contains another hidden container within it, so you have two sets of files, decoys and "real" files. The decoy passphrase provides access to the decoy files, with the rest of the container appearing to be empty. The real passphrase opens the second container and ignores the decoy files. According to them, there is no way to even detect the existance of the second container, without the real passphrase.

Dave

Vote

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required