Re: Re: Judge orders defendant to decrypt PGP-protected laptop - CNET News

["H. Kurth Bemis" <kurth () kurthbemis com>]

On Tue, 2009-03-24 at 19:46 +0000, rev.willow () mr-awesome com wrote:
> I hear a lot of replies saying that the guy is trying to protect himself and by law, should not have to provide a key 
> to further incriminate himself. In all actuality, this guy is burying himself deeper by the day. Eventually, he will 
> have to provide the key. If he doesn't, the witnesses that saw the naughty bits on his computer will most-likely be 
> enough to put him away as well as the charge of obstruction of justice for not providing the key. Yes it is true, he 
> was already caught. However, not cooperating is just going to prolong his sentence. If the defendant cooperates, he 
> will be less likely to get the maximum. But what is really going on is that he probably has a whole lot worse on his 
> computer than what was seen when he was arrested. So when he doesn't provide a key and makes everything worse in that 
> aspect, it will be even more devastating to his life when the court does get into his files and sees the other stuff 
> they didn't already know about. In my opinion, this 
 gu
>  y is fighting a losing battle against a monster that is 1000 times bigger than he could ever imagine. No matter what 
> the law is, the government does what it wants. For instance, the patriot act.
>
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Something I'm still not clear with, maybe someone can clarify - Does the
DOJ *HAVE* any solid evidence to proceed?  If so, then all this is moot.

I suspect that their case is pretty weak without substantial evidence to
show guilt, in this case, possession of child porn.  Even though DHS
employees claim they saw child porn, now the evidence cannot be produced
without the accused incriminating himself further.  Isn't this the very
instance the 5th was designed to protect against?  I'm aware that courts
can require the accused to provide blood samples, hair samples, etc,
etc, but in this case, the key exists solely within his mind, and
therefore cannot be retried without his consent and assistance.  Things
like locked safes, blood samples and hair samples can all be obtained or
broken without his consent.  The turnover of the key would require his
consent and cannot be forced out of him.

Also, the CNET[1] article says ..."thousands of images of adult
pornography and animation depicting adult and child pornography."...

So if I read this properly, there could be NO actual child pornography
on his drive, but only animations of child-adult acts?  So we're not
sure if there's anything actually illegal on the drive?

Can his guilt be proven without evidence beyond a reasonable doubt?  I
don't think so, or at least I hope not without substantial evidence.  I
don't think I would like continue to live in a country where individuals
can be convicted on suspicion alone.  I know American Justice is
perverted and mangled, but to this degree?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this smells like a fishing trip.
~k

[1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10172866-38.html


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