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Last week FBI Director James Comey at the Boston College conference on cybersecurity stated:
While that quote in the article is taken out of context, it is even more disturbing when taken in context. The included video puts the quote in context where Comey is arguing against widespread access to strong encryption with the public. There are other quotes included as well that are just as disturbing, such as:
Even our communications with our spouses, with our clergy members, with our attorneys are not absolutely private in America... ...In appropriate circumstances, a judge can compel any one of us to testify in court about those very private communications.
Is this the "adult conversation" on encryption he was getting ready for last year?
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FBI Director James Comey: "There is No Such Thing as Absolute Privacy in America"
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Hacking's just another word for nothing left to kludge.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 17 2017, @02:39AM (2 children)
Your mind is outside of judicial reach, outside of any method of search and seizure. Government cannot forcibly extract information from your head. Yet, at least. You can keep secrets, even in court. The judge may believe that you are being less than honest, but unless he can prove it, he has no authority to punish you.
Many politicians have given you the example. "I don't remember" "I don't recall" "My memory fails me" "I was under doctor's care for a blood clot" - the list goes on and on.
I view a computer as an extension of your mind. A locked computer is pretty nearly sacrosanct, unless you're dumb enough to use sloppy security.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @03:36PM (1 child)
2 things:
- being offered immunity "takes away" (as in "renders moot") your reasons for taking the fifth
- contempt of court is a real thing that can land you in a real prison
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 17 2017, @03:47PM
Well, being offered immunity doesn't grant the judge the power to read my mind. The cops don't become mind reading super heroes. What is in my mind, stays there, unless I decide to share it. That contempt stuff can be a good thing, and it can also be abused, like any other law.
Let's suppose that I were involved in something, for which I am charged at the local level. I'm offered immunity at the local level, but if I tell all, I know that the whole thing will be taken out of the local court, and prosecuted on the federal level. Think I'm going to cooperate?
It's all well and good to throw yourself on the mercy of the court, at local and state levels. The feds have no mercy. It may be better to sit in a county jail for a year, than to give the evidence that the local want. State prison might be better for a couple of years, than having one of the alphabets haul you off.
I'll stick with "my thoughts are my own", and use them however I deem best. If that means figuratively telling a judge to fuck off and die, then I live with the consequences.