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

["Steve McKay" <steve.mckay () hibbett com>]

"Tom Yarrish" <tom () yarrish com> wrote in message 
news:3AB95F6B-CC5E-4515-A772-562351AE067B () yarrish com...
> I thought there was a part of this story that the guy had been
> cooperating or said he had something on his computer, and then decided
> not to cooperate.  That was why the judge ordered him to enter his PGP
> passphrase.
>
> Tom

The guy apparently had the PC 'on' when he crossed the border or he turned 
it on and entered the password for the guards to inspect the contents of the 
hard drive.  After the guards discovered the material on the hard drive, 
they (the guards) turned off the PC (to 'preserve' the evidence, I presume). 
When it was turned back 'on', they discovered that it was password 
protected.

What would be interesting would be if the encryption software were set up to 
erase the encrypted drive after 3 invalid passwords and the defendant 
intentionally entered the wrong password 3 times. . .

ME