password_1.jpg
JEROME J. NIEDERMEIER, United States Magistrate Judge. has ruled in favour of the defendant in a case of a subpoenaed Password for a laptop.

The case concerned a computer user which laptop was ceased during a border-crossing, the laptop allegedly contained child porn but was encrypted using PGP, a grand jury had subpoenaed the defendant to turn over the password but the defendant denied and claimed the “Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination!”. This was later backed up by “JEROME J. NIEDERMEIER, United States Magistrate Judge”.

I do in no way condone any possession or usage of child pornography, but even though I am pleased with the ruling – as it in my world is a victory for personal privacy.  The issue is today of little relevance, as it could be avoided using Truecrypt with a hidden secret partition (a hidden encrypted partition within a regular encrypted partition – refer to Truecrypt.org for further details).

Links;
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9834495-38.html
http://www.volokh.com/files/Boucher.pdf