In Child Porn Case, a Digital Dilemma

[jamesinca]

Source: Washington Post

In Child Porn Case, a Digital Dilemma
U.S. Seeks to Force Suspect to Reveal Password to Computer Files

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 16, 2008; A01



The federal government is asking a U.S. District Court in Vermont to order a man to type a password that would unlock files on his computer, despite his claim that doing so would constitute self-incrimination.

The case, believed to be the first of its kind to reach this level, raises a uniquely digital-age question about how to balance privacy and civil liberties against the government's responsibility to protect the public.

The case, which involves suspected possession of child pornography, comes as more Americans turn to encryption to protect the privacy and security of files on their laptops and thumb drives. FBI and Justice Department officials, meanwhile, have said that encryption is allowing terrorists and criminals to communicate their plots covertly.

Criminals and terrorists are using "relatively inexpensive, off-the-shelf encryption products," said John Miller, the FBI's assistant director of public affairs. "When the intent . . . is purely to hide evidence of a crime . . . there needs to be a logical and constitutionally sound way for the courts" to allow law enforcement access to the evidence, he said.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/15/AR2008011503663_pf.html

[chelsea0011]

1. "hiding the evvidence"? Isn't that what criminals do?

[jamesinca]

2. Reasonable search

If there is a reason to believe can't they just a get a warrant to search his computer. Is it self incrimination if you allow them to come into your house with a warrant only to find the garden out in the garage or a nicely bundled kilo in the closet?

This one could be interesting to watch.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. They have searched dhis computer.

To use your analogy they are essentially demanding the power to compell him to tell them where the kilo is hidden. That is a clear violation of the protection against self incrimination.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Good point

Warrants only allow a search to be conducted. It doesn't even specify the items they are seeking.

[lapfog_1]

3. I posted this on the other thread about this case.

Folks, if you are interested in keeping private data private, don't trust encryption.

Buy yourself an inexpensive and relatively large memory stick. Purchase an ampule of a very strong acid (HCL or nitric or similar) and tape it to your memory stick. Store all of your private date on the stick. If the police arrive at your door, pull the memory stick and stomp on it. No more data. Not recoverable with any known forensic technique. You should encrypt it as well, just in case you are prevented from removing the stick.

If you are really paranoid, position a hidden web cam on your front door and always have your camera on when you are on your computer with the memory stick in it. Carry the memory stick with you at all times when you aren't on, and drop it and step on it if you are arrested. Even if the police witness you stepping on it, it's too late for them to do anything. After their experts have examined your computer, they will find nothing with which to charge you. You are out your private data, but you won't be in jail for having classified information or for your rantings in word documents... and in police state 'Merica, it could come to that someday)

Note, I'm not in favor of kiddie porn... but I am strongly in favor of privacy.

Oh, one more thing, after you stomp on your memory stick/acid ampule, please remember to kick your shoes off!

[Frank Cannon]

5. You really know a lot about this

Why don't you have a seat over there and talk to me?

[lapfog_1]

8. Uh no, I have my peccadillo's and failings

but wanting a sexual relationship with a kid is not one of them.

I do have a weakness for 5'11" ex-models or even the occasional exotic dancer (not married so I can post these things), but, unfortunately, they have to be rather brainy too.

And I can't manage my money.

But kids, no. Not my thing.

However, I do have an abiding regard for our rights. And watching them slip away right and left (both mostly right) is making me angry and sad. And I do believe that it's possible, not likely, but POSSIBLE, that our government may make some things stated on forums like these an act of treason... and, as we already know, if you are branded a terrorist, or a supporter of terrorism, you could be shipped somewhere in this world where nobody will find you, without any recourse, no lawyers, no courts, nothing.

So I'm just thinking ahead here, preparing for the day when they might just come for me... or you. Let's not make it easy on them.

Fundamentally, I view computers as extensions of our persons, they are tools that let our brains calculate faster and store vast amounts of more data than our own brains, and with the right technology, computers can look up things that we remember or possibly could have remembered (if we read almost everything published). I don't want the FBI looking into my memories in my head, why should they be able to access "my memories" on my computer?

And in a completely different argument, I know my computer has "pre-fetched" a number of documents that I never asked for or viewed, much of it pornographic in nature. Some of it could be child porn (how would you know if you haven't looked?). The presumption in courts these days is that if it's on your computer, you put it there, therefore you are guilty! But viruses and even just the pre-fetch of some websites you might legally be entitled to view will download things that you never knew about. I have Metacafe and youtube on my Windows system, and I know that Metacafe is diligent about downloading every video to my computer whether I ever view it or not. Even worse, there is not designation that I requested the video or it simply was preloaded. I don't want to go to jail for something some asshole posted in, say, Russia and my system downloaded... and is illegal here. Even though I never asked for it or viewed it.

My temp files, metacafe scratch files and library, my "my documents" folder and sub-folders are all on a memory stick. I don't yet have the ampule of acid, but I want to get it and do what I suggested. Just in case.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Ampule of acid

Set aside some of that acid for the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. We won't be needing them anymore either.

[JuniperLea]

25. What about the temp files on your computer? eom

[DWilliamsamh]

4. Seems a simple analogy/question might be appropriate.

In the age of prohibition, when Capone (just to use a familiar name) hid things in safes like his criminal enterprise accounting books, did the court ever rule that the accused had to spin the combination of his safe? Or did the police just have crack the safe or open it in in some other way on there own, hoping not to destroy the evidence within? I doubt it. The police have a search warrant, and forensic/encryption experts. Seems they should have to "crack" the encryption. I am not saying child porn should be safe, but as another poster said - hiding evidence is what criminals do. BUT - it is up to police to "find" the evidence.

What if the encrypted files have nothing to do with kiddie porn, but might yield other information that could be damaging in some other sense? It seems a bad precedent to "force" the person to enter their password, and an obvious violation of the 5th amendment.

[flashl]

6. Parsing hairs, this is about ANIMATION

and 5th Amendment rights. In an older DU Post I made inquiry, We have a PGP 5th Am 'right'?

[jimshoes]

7. He could always use the

tried and true Alberto "Gone"zales ruse, ...."I do not recall my password". Interesting case however.

[bitchkitty]

10. I don't get it.

They're the Feds - they've got money. Why don't they hire a hacker?

[14thColony]

24. Money isn't the issue - time is

And there ain't that much time in all the universe. Later versions of PGP use the IDEA encryption algorithm, which uses a 128-bit key. That means there are 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 possible 'passwords' (keys) that he could have used. To make a long story short, even if you had 1,000,000,000 (billion) computers that could try 1,000,000,000 (billion) keys per second (this is called a brute-force attack), it would still require a longer period of time than most astromers believe the universe has left... something on the order of tens of billions of years. And there are algorithms out there in the public domain that can use 256-bit keys, or more.

All this assumes the user creates a tight password that maxes out whatever the algorithm is capable of. If your password is 'password,' there's nothing that can help you. We can assume they already did a dictionary attack against his encrypted file and gave up after a few days/weeks.

[Kingshakabobo]

26. Try "Rumpelstiltskin"

[dipsydoodle]

11. As much as I'm against child pornography

your federal government would use it as a precedent if found in their favour. So - I hope they lose.

[Swagman]

13. this is a witch hunt-check this out

child porn has been elevated to a crime greater than murder or even the actual murder of a child and it's political.

The internet is dangerous territory for anyone.

See this story by respected investigative journalist Duncan Campbell-about how Who musician Pete Townshend was probably forced, along with hundreds of others in the US & UK to plead guilty to a crime they didn't commit.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/74690/operation-ore-exposed/page3.html
Operation Ore exposed
1st July 2005

In the spring of 1999, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) complained to the US Postal Service (which polices the Internet in the US) that Landslide's Keyz service was providing access to child porn sites.

NCMEC's complaints were accurate and in May 1999 Dallas Detective Steven Nelson began a covert investigation. During the summer, he bought 12 subscriptions in a false name. After getting his passwords, he hooked his computer up to a simple spider program called Web Buddy. He filled his drive with the contents of each site, at least to the extent that the links worked. Then, with the assistance of Postal Inspector Michael Mead, Nelson prepared to raid Landslide. This was Operation Avalanche.

[izquierdista]

15. Hilarious article

Let's see, if a cop has a choice between investigating a murder and looking through porn pics to find ones which look underage, I wonder which one he will pick? :dilemma:

[Swagman]

19. duhhh ,,the one with the kiddie porn..easier to get mass convictions

accussed won't fight back and accept deal as they want to remain publicity free..big mistake as the cops will act like Hollywood publicists to ensure EVERYBODY knows who you, where you live and work (too bad about your own kids who will get abused in the street or at school-should've have chosen different parents)

body of kid can rot in ground for few years..not as important.

[Xenotime]

16. Why don't they just use a backdoor or something.

[flashl]

17. no back doors

According to Niedermeier's written opinion, prosecutors sent Boucher a grand jury subpoena asking for the passwords because:

Secret Service Agent Matthew Fasvlo, who has experience and training in computer forensics, testified that it is nearly impossible to access these encrypted files without knowing the password. There are no "back doors" or secret entrances to access the files. The only way to get access without the password is to use an automated system which repeatedly guesses passwords. According to the government, the process to unlock drive Z could take years, based on efforts to unlock similarly encrypted files in another case. Despite its best efforts, to date the government has been unable to learn the password to access drive Z.

Judge: Man can't be forced to divulge encryption passphrase

[bemildred]

21. Correct.

Unless they get quantum computers working, it's brute force or nothing. With adequate levels of encryption, you'll be dead of natural causes before they crack it.

[Poll_Blind]

28. Quantum computers still can't crack steganographically hidden, nested subvolumes.

Just sayin'. :)

  They can just brute force much better than currently available computers.

  However with nested encrypted subvolumes, the following analogy would describe the situation investigators would be in: It would be as though they were entering a room whose four walls, ceiling and floor were slate. With a piece of chalk they could draw a door anywhere but only if it was in the correct place would it reveal the next blackboard room if they pushed. Once in the next blackboard room they would face the same dilemma. It would also be impossible, even residing in the first "room" to know that there were further rooms to explore, where the rabbit hole ended.

  Currently TrueCrypt (which is free, btw) allows for the creation of up to 10 of these nested subvolumes, blackboard rooms, in order to conceal information.

  The only way, at that point, to know how to enter each of the subvolumes is by forcing the maintainer of the data to reveal the password(s). However if the maintainer of the data is only aware of part of the passphrase (think multi-key + code(s) for launch of nuclear weapons, or the encryption of the data in the movie Johnny Mnemonic) even torture of one person would not reveal the information required to access the data.

  While I have never had reason to classify any information as being sensitive enough to warrant such concealment it is amusing to know that it's fairly simple to conceal and access data which is essentially unrecoverable.

PB

[BadgerKid]

18. Technical discussion here (link)

from last December on Slashdot:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/15/1459243

[flashl]

22. Interesting dialog. Thanks.

[bemildred]

20. Why don't they just waterboard him?

What the F**K good is the 5th if they can torture you?

[-..__...]

23. Remember "Key Escrow" and "The Clipper Chip"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_escrow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip

Only a matter of time before that powers that be try and shove this in our faces again.

[hootinholler]

27. Kicking for exposure,

The real reason that kiddie porn is being pushed.

-Hoot