News / Law
Pretty Good Privacy Causes Legal Problems for a Vermont Court
The 30 year old drywall installer is a Canadian citizen with legal residency in Vermont. On December 17, 2006 Boucher was driving to Vermont from Canada when he was stopped by a US Customs & Border Protection investigator. After searching the car, Boucher‘s laptop was discovered.
Suspecting the computer contained child porn, after reading the title of a file named, Two-year-old being raped during diaper change, the investigator asked Boucher to show him the folder his downloaded files. The investigator saw a file of a preteen undressing and performing acts. Boucher was then arrested and charged with transportation of child pornography in interstate or foreign commerce.
The laptop was seized, however, authorities were not able to gain access onto the computer’s Z drive since it was password protected by Pretty Good Privacy. So begins the court room dilemma.
Boucher is being asked to provide the password to open the Z drive, however Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier says “If Boucher does know the password, he would be faced with the forbidden trilemma: incriminate himself, lie under oath, or find himself in contempt of court.”
It’s a tricky case. A privacy and technology expert, Mark D. Rasch, says that ruling will be a “dangerous” one for law enforcement. “If it stands, it means that if you encrypt your documents, the government cannot force you to decrypt them…So you're going to see drug dealers and pedophiles encrypting their documents, secure in the knowledge that the police can't get at them."
