It had to happen...

[Jim choate]

>
> The cracker who's using Secure Drive could be an interesting case.
> Unfortunately, assuming that a cracker at a university is probably
> a student, he may not hve very good legal representation,
> and I'd hate to see bad precedent on "can you be forced to reveal your key"
> set because someone is not only a tresspasser but a stupid one as well.
> Do you know if the wiretapping was being done by police, or if it was
> just the university staff with ethernet sniffers?  I was interested
> by your comment that they can't prosecute the person without the data;
> while it could certainly be helpful to have, one would hope they had
> a reasonably solid case *before* they went and arrested him.....
>
> 			Thanks;  Bill
> # Bill Stewart  NCR Corp, 6870 Koll Center Parkway, Pleasanton CA, 94566
> # Voice/Beeper 510-224-7043, Phone 510-484-6204
> # email bill.stewart at pleasantonca.ncr.com billstewart at attmail.com
>

Assuming the arrest warrant was good not revealing the key to a duly
authorized court representative would be illegal (ie interfereing with a
police investigation). If the courts serve a warrant for your arrest and the
confiscation of data on your hard drive (and you refuse to turn the data over
even after talking w/ an attorney) is specificaly mentioned you are opening
yourself up for another whole world of legal hurt.

A citizen would have the legal right to refuse prior to talking w/ an
attorney but not after, at that point it becomes witholding evidence.


If the process is legal there should be no reason a citizen can refuse to
turn over his private keys (I don't believe self-incrimination holds here).