X-Loop: openpgp.net
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >You have to PROVE that you don't have it (and most likely that you didn't
> >"lose" it on purpose), or go to jail for two years.
>
> True enough. However, in the case that the data is incriminating to
> the point where you'd spend more than two years in jail if you _did_
> decrypt it, you'd be happy to take your charge of non-compliance,
> serve out your two years, and be free. It's likely that most of the
> cases that the government would be concerned with are terrorism and
> the like; in such cases, you're almost certainly better off taking the
> lighter sentence and giving the officials the finger.
It is also not at all impossible that the government could be pissed off by
your anarchist tendencies and plant some encrypted stuff on your computer
(like, for example, sending you encrypted mail with a forged "from" address
so that it appears to come from someone you correspond with), and then you'd
be unable to prove that you don't have the keys.
Not to mention that they could take a hint from BATF, which will charge you
with 500 counts of illegal posession of firearms if you have 500 rounds of
illegal ammo, and send you 100 encrypted mails. I don't know if that means
you'd have to spend 100 * 2 years in jail (that is, lifetime), but it could.
Especially if you happen to have some anti-government (or even worse,
pro-terrorist) emails from the same "From:" address in your inbox... [Your
honor, he's a dangerous terrorist, conspiring for the violent overthrow of
government and bullshit like that.]
Now, if you don't think that emails hold water, what about a virus / worm /
trojan that leaves "interesting" encrypted information on your \Windows
folder, which then they "happen" to discover, after a tip from "an anonymous
informant"? [Oh, and I forgot - after hard work, they "manage" to decrypt
the information on your computer, finding that the information contained
some bomb-making recipes, or drug-related info, or goat porn <g>, or
anything like that. You'd be happy that they haven't simply shot you.]
"Guilty until proven innocent" is always a bad idea.
Mark
