[Cryptography] A different twist on the constitutionality of cryptography

Phillip Hallam-Baker phill at hallambaker.com
Wed Dec 23 21:30:43 EST 2015


I think there might be an argument to be made that cryptography is
protected under the bill of rights under the fourth amendment as well
as the first.

In numerous cases the court has found that a search is legal because a
party did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The assumption
being that if you don't act to make something private then it is
public.

That argument presumes that there are steps that a person could have
taken to protect their privacy and chose not to use. Ergo, if they are
denied the right to protect their privacy with encryption they are
denied their right to protect themselves against unlawful searches.


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