[Cryptography] US Case: Infinite Jail Contempt for Disk Crypto, 5th Amndmnt, All Writs, FileVault, Freenet CHKs

[arxlight]

Forgive the double posting, but I suddenly remembered the name:
Chadwick, who is the counter example.  It took his judge something like
fifteen years to decide Chadwick really wasn't going to give up.  That's
a long wait.

On 30/04/16 17:26, arxlight wrote:
> 
> 
> On 30/04/16 17:21, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
> 
>>> This, of course, depends on the judge believing in the defendant's
>>> resolve.  (Though I recall that defendant walking soon after).
> 
>> Well that should not be too hard to prove. In addition to his 5th
>> amendment privileges, the defendant's counsel can argue that either the
>> information on the disk is incriminating or it is not.
>>
>> If the information is not incriminating then there is no reason to force
>> him to reveal it.
>>
>> If the information is incriminating then the threat of jail is not going
>> to be effective as he is certain to go to jail and be forced to sign the
>> offenders register which is a life long punishment. The threat being
>> used to force him to incriminate himself is less than what he will
>> suffer if he does.
> 
> And yet, it works.  Often.
> 
> Probably because it isn't possible for the defendant to know exactly
> when the judge will decide to believe that the defendant has "lost" the
> password.  After a few years in the clink with no light at the end of
> the tunnel, a 5 year sentence (perhaps even with credit for time served)
> might not seem so bad (even if the judge is just weeks away from
> blinking first).
>