On Mon, Jan 07, 2002 at 04:46:02PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
Setting a trap gun to blow away anyone who inserts a floppy (or hooks up a cable) to a machine he has not been given access to is morally permissable.
Except when the local firefighters show up when your house is on fire, you're away, and the gun is rigged...
As the Mafia case shows, Big Brother and his courts no longer even think a warrant is needed.
Actually, the warrant in the Scarfo case was signed by a federal magistrate judge. That doesn't mean it's constitutional, but the judge had exactly this in mind. See: http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/fed/html/scarfo2.html-1.html
Because the encrypted file could not be accessed via traditional investigative means, Judge Haneke's Order permitted law enforcement officers to "install and leave behind software, firmware, and/or hardware equipment which will monitor the inputted data entered on Nicodemo S. Scarfo's computer in the TARGET LOCATION so that the F.B.I. can capture the password necessary to decrypt computer files by recording the key related information as they are entered."
-Declan