Child porn suspect jailed indefinitely for refusing to decrypt hard drives

[Lochton]

Sounds like the best choice of action. As the suspect is not cooperating when it comes to such a fragile subject.

[Flutterguy]

basis of contempt of court is faulty on violating his 5th amendment. it will be thrown out as soon as his lawyer will start dropping lawsuits.

His 5th Amendment Rights are not being violated. This is not a request to self incriminate. There may be nothing on those harddrives. But by refusing to grant court ordered access to potential evidence in a lawful search and seizure request, he is in contempt of court and being held as such until he complies.

Think of the hard drive as a safe with documents inside of it. The defendant is the only one who has the key but he refuses to turn it over despite being lawfully required to do so. He is, for all intents and purposes, impeding the investigation.

[Gorgodeus]

"Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful towards a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies authority, justice, and dignity of the court."

Truly this is a most heinous crime, beyond murder, rape, and assault. It makes COMPLETE SENSE that this is a reason for someone to be imprisoned effectively forever until the law decides otherwise.

The reason you can be jailed indefinitely for contempt, is it is the most effective way to force the person to rectify the situation. You will also see people that owe back child support jailed indefinitely until the amount ordered by the court is paid because they are considered in contempt for not paying the proper amount of support.

[Mayhem]

They're locking him up for obstruction.

Great. Give us the keys to your house because we suspect you doing illegal activities in there. You don´t want us to search your property? Well that´s obstruction, go to jail or give us the key.

[Mehrunes]

I like that he's jailed because of hearsay and a "best guess". How did this forensic expert achieve such guess? Precognition? Telepathy? Whatever it is, this guy clearly has a supernatural power and should be studied.

[Deleted]

I like that he's jailed because of hearsay and a "best guess". How did this forensic expert achieve such guess? Precognition? Telepathy? Whatever it is, this guy clearly has a supernatural power and should be studied.

He used Freenet

[McFuu]

The reason you can be jailed indefinitely for contempt, is it is the most effective way to force the person to rectify the situation. You will also see people that owe back child support jailed indefinitely until the amount ordered by the court is paid because they are considered in contempt for not paying the proper amount of support.

What? Debtors prison doesn't work, England tried that.

OT - I was always under the assumption passwords were protected by the 5th. Regardless of what's on the drives, it's for the prosecution to prove he has child porn.
From what I've read of the case, they don't have enough for a charge. Holding him indefinitely creates a precedent that allows anyone to be held indefinitely, for no reason.
The whole, he holds the key to his release argument is a smoke screen; the problem isn't that he can leave just by giving his password, the problem is he shouldn't have been held to begin with.

[Deleted]

Great. Give us the keys to your house because we suspect you doing illegal activities in there. You don´t want us to search your property? Well that´s obstruction, go to jail or give us the key.

Are you an officer of the law? If so, no problem.

[McFuu]

Are you an officer of the law? If so, no problem.

In America, the police have to provide a certain amount of evidence to get a search warrant to gain access to private homes, businesses, etc... Otherwise they can just show up on your door step and let themselves in.

[Mayhem]

Are you an officer of the law? If so, no problem.

Some people do value privacy and that law enforcement can´t just snoop around your property whenever they want. But hey, if you don´t mind, fine by me.

[Deleted]

In America, the police have to provide a certain amount of evidence to get a search warrant to gain access to private homes, businesses, etc... Otherwise they can just show up on your door step and let themselves in.

Well, not exactly. They have to provide a search warrant in order to obtain unrestricted access to your property.
However, if the police turn up at your door and request access, then you can by all means grant them access without the need for a warrant.

This is the whole point of my argument.

If the police turn up at my door and explain to me that I'm under suspicion of possessing child porn, then fuck yeah I'm letting them in so that I can clear my name.
If the police turn up at my door with a warrant, I'm not going to try and obstruct them unless I'm guilty of something.

Essentially, the police have obtained a warrant to search this guy's computer. They can't search his computer, however, as the suspect is not granting them access.
It's obstruction.

[Frenegade42]

Only in America, and only if you are aware it's 2D when you look for it. :3

For instance, if you buy Loli shit thinking you are buying kiddie porn, it's still illegal. Otherwise it's covered under the first amendment.. like it should be... because it's a fucking drawing.

Not in my country.
There's a dude in my area with a conviction for having badly drawn pictures of Bart plowing Lisa. Which is scarey because you can have a picture of Bart plowing Lisa flashing in a banner advert for any one of thousands of otherwise innocent hentai or cartoon porn sites. They find that shit in your cache --> sex offender.

[Deleted]

Only in America, and only if you are aware it's 2D when you look for it. :3

For instance, if you buy Loli shit thinking you are buying kiddie porn, it's still illegal. Otherwise it's covered under the first amendment.. like it should be... because it's a fucking drawing.

Drawing or not. People who collect sexually explicit Loli drawings deserve jail just as much as people with photos and videos.
I don't give two shits whether it's 'real' or not. If you get enjoyment out of looking at that kind of shit you're as fucking sick as your standard garden variety paedophile.

[McFuu]

Well, not exactly. They have to provide a search warrant in order to obtain unrestricted access to your property.
However, if the police turn up at your door and request access, then you can by all means grant them access without the need for a warrant.

This is the whole point of my argument.

If the police turn up at my door and explain to me that I'm under suspicion of possessing child porn, then fuck yeah I'm letting them in so that I can clear my name.
If the police turn up at my door with a warrant, I'm not going to try and obstruct them unless I'm guilty of something.

Essentially, the police have obtained a warrant to search this guy's computer. They can't search his computer, however, as the suspect is not granting them access.
It's obstruction.

The slippery slope of this line of thinking is if they show up and say they are looking for xyz and you let them in; and they find something else, they can charge you with what they found.

If they show up with a search warrant and say we are looking for xyz and it's documented on this piece of paper from the court, than their search can only encompass xyz. If they happen to find abc during their search, the legality of that evidence against you is called into question.

And I don't mean all of this to be distrustful of the police, I'm not. But if they truly have "evidence" to link you to a crime, they should be able to get a search warrant without issue.

There have been plenty of cases in the US of no-knock raids on homes in the middle of the night, just to find out that the home owners were falsely accused. From here-say they still had enough evidence to get a no-knock warrant which is way more extreme than a normal search warrant.

[Noradin]

Well, not exactly. They have to provide a search warrant in order to obtain unrestricted access to your property.
However, if the police turn up at your door and request access, then you can by all means grant them access without the need for a warrant.

This is the whole point of my argument.

If the police turn up at my door and explain to me that I'm under suspicion of possessing child porn, then fuck yeah I'm letting them in so that I can clear my name.
If the police turn up at my door with a warrant, I'm not going to try and obstruct them unless I'm guilty of something.

Essentially, the police have obtained a warrant to search this guy's computer. They can't search his computer, however, as the suspect is not granting them access.
It's obstruction.

Kind of how the police likes to stop cars, ask to search them to make sure you do not have any drugs in there and when they see any money they just take it from you? If you refuse they have "reason for suspicion" and search your car anyway, also taking any money?

[Spiffums]

Pretty sure it's unconstitutional to imprison someone indefinitely.

Not if you lable them a terrorist.

[Celista]

Former PD sergeant with likely kiddie porn on his computer, who likely had the resources to get away with what he was doing for years.

Sympathy Level: 0

[Deleted]

Kind of how the police likes to stop cars, ask to search them to make sure you do not have any drugs in there and when they see any money they just take it from you? If you refuse they have "reason for suspicion" and search your car anyway, also taking any money?

This has happened to you has it? Where do you live? Mexico?

Please give me one example of when police have used their stop and search powers and proceeded to confiscate money from the subject despite finding no evidence of criminal activity.

[Kubaal]

He is being held on charges of "contempt of court", for not following a Judges orders.

[Reeve]

Former PD sergeant with likely kiddie porn on his computer, who likely had the resources to get away with what he was doing for years.

Sympathy Level: 0

I can simultaneously lack sympathy for the guy and still think he deserves to have his rights upheld.