[Cryptography] hard to trust all those root CAs

[ianG]

On 25/07/2014 05:13 am, Peter Gutmann wrote:
> John Kelsey <crypto.jmk at gmail.com> writes:
> 
>   Yeah, and the judge and prosecutor who get your case will be helpless before
>   your clever skills at evading them, because they've never had to deal with
>   literal-minded people trying transparent dodges to get around the law
>   before. You will doubtless enjoy the same success as tax protesters do when
>   they end up in court.  And shortly thereafter, you'll enjoy an all-expenses-
>   paid vacation with free room and board, courtesy of the US government.
> 
> This should be preserved somewhere as the standard response to the
> Rumpelstiltskin Defence ("you can't prove I'm using crypto/know the keys so
> you'll have to let me go").  This perfectly sums up what will happen to anyone
> who wants to try the Rumpelstiltskin Defence in court.


What's the charge here?  Making a false statement?  Failing to
cooperate?  Taking down an untruth?

What's the prosecutor asking the court to order the defendent to do?
Lie for the government?  Stop interfering with an investigation that
didn't exist?

The court will have a hard time of finding a charge of lying on behalf
of the prosecutor, or of ordering the defendent to participate in an
active deception.  Truth is the meat & drink of the court, when the
court plays games with the truth, the court impeaches itself.



iang