Not that I've been arrested or anything, but in the United States, if I get my house raided, do i have to give them my password to my Tails burner netbook?

Just wondering if I'd have any obligation to give them my password. What keeps me from just saying "I forget the password". If they try to like charge me with like "obstructing an investigation", it seems fucked up if I were to just forget and how could they prove that I didn't just forget the password?

Just wondering if anyone has gone through this because well all the evidence is on my netbook and i highly doubt they're going to devote cracking resources to little ole me so as long as they don't get my password, what else can they do really?

:Edit: I just wanna say, I don't know why people are saying this community sucks. I JUST posted this fucking 20 minutes ago and got 4 responses already. Not that they're mind blowing but even got cited sources and all that. But jesus dude, I don't get all the negativeity about this. Maybe people are lookimng down at the "stupid people" like me who don't know everything but I feel like we're doing a pretty good fucking job at answering each others questions in a straight forward (agora withdrawls aside ha). There is so much to know and so many little things that only apply to your region that so im glad we're able to talk. Alot of what I learned was through "dumb people asking dumb questions" on here, not necessarily on the sidebar, although that's a great fucking resource. I'm just saying I'm constantly amazed at the level of chill yet realistic conversations on here.


Comments


[6 Points] deezyyyy:

In the USA, you have the right to remain silent.


[5 Points] Its_Cory:

Well, you have the right to not to testify against yourself. But does the 5th amendment also protect your decryption key? It depends on the situation. In one case, a man was under-investigation for child-pornography and had his external hard-drives seized via a search warrant. When forensics couldn't decrypt them, stating that they could not even tell if evidence existed without the decryption key (this is important later), the judge ordered him to produce the decryption key. After refusing, he was held in contempt. This was overturned by the eleventh circuit court.

However, lets take a look at another case: A woman under investigation for a mortgage scam and an encrypted computer was seized (she wasn't arrested). Meanwhile, she went to visit her husband at the jail, where their conversation is recorded. After she was asked if there was "anything on [the] computer to protect it," she replied, "I don't know if they can get to it [...] my lawyer said I'm not obligated by law to give them any passwords or anything thing need to figure things out for themselves." Based on the conversation, the government sought a writ requiring her to hand over her decryption key. She plea the fifth and refused. The judge granted the writ saying that, since the government already knew about the existence of evidence on the laptop, the act of producing files from a decryption key was not "testimony."

So it's basically a don't-ask/don't-tell with regards to decryption keys: the government won't ask (demand by the court) what your decryption key is as long as you don't be telling them that it decrypts evidence.

TL;DR Don't have an encrypted file on your computer named "list-of-illegal-drugs-I-sold.xlsx.aes", because they will throw you in jail until you give them the decryption key.

Btw: I'm not a lawyer and I basically paraphrased an article that should take full credit for the research done. All I did was find the article.

Source


[4 Points] ziz1:

There are countries where you will be forced by penalty of imprisonment to give up your encryption keys:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law


[2 Points] neverforget1:

You should read up on the local laws on your country. For your question research the 5th ammendment.


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] dawgiee:

This is actually a good question. I mean, if you honestly forgot your password, what can they do?


[1 Points] doxxthrowaway:

they cant prove you know anything. remain silent. the only word you should say is, "lawyer".