MESSAGE
| DATE | 2016-09-06 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [Hangout-NYLXS] All-Writ, the FBI and contempt of court
|
On 09/06/2016 09:02 PM, Ruben Safir wrote:
> has anyone followed the imprisonment and months long interment in
> Solitary Confinement of Francis Rawls, of Philadelphia? He is accused
> of watching child pornography and they are holding him in contempt of
> court because his systems are locked with cryptography.
>
> https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=francis+rawls
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/technology/former-officer-is-jailed-months-without-charges-over-encrypted-drives.html
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> A former police sergeant has been held without charges in a federal
> detention cell in Philadelphia, part of an effort by the authorities to
> pressure him to decrypt two computer hard drives believed to contain
> child pornography.
>
> The case reveals yet another battle line for law enforcement and digital
> privacy advocates over encryption, this time on an Apple computer, not
> an iPhone.
>
> The sergeant, Francis Rawls, was ordered by a federal court last August
> to hand over the two hard drives, which were seized from his home
> because they were suspected to contain the illegal pornography.
>
> Mr. Rawls was shown to a private room at the district attorney’s office
> to comply with the order. Once there, according to a court document, he
> spent most of the time staring at the computer and then said he could
> not remember the passwords to turn off FileVault, a feature of Macs that
> encrypts hard drives when a user logs out. He was taken into custody,
> and this week he started his eighth month in a federal detention center,
> all without ever being charged with a crime.
>
> Mr. Rawls’s case is the latest in a growing number of legal battles over
> digital privacy in the United States. The challenges are playing out in
> courts across the country, propelling a national debate over when the
> government can compel individuals or companies to disclose codes or
> passwords giving access to private data.
>
> “Not only is he presently being held without charges, but he has never
> in his life been charged with a crime,” Keith M. Donoghue, his federal
> public defender, wrote in a motion last week seeking his client’s release.
>
>
https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=francis+rawls
Here, the Affidavit of Special Agent David Bottalico, supporting the
application for a Search Warrant, establishes that (1) the Government
has custody of the electronic devices; (2) prior to the Government's
seizure, Mr. Rawls possessed, accessed and owned all the electronic
devices; and (3) there are images on the electronic devices that
constitute child pornography. Therefore, under the "foregone conclusion"
doctrine, requiring Mr. Rawls to assist in the decrypting of those
devices does not violate his privilege against self-incrimination.
According to this reasoning, the government already "knows" what's
contained on the devices, so there's nothing incriminating about Rawls
unlocking them for it. But why would that require the use of an All
Writs order? It would seem if the evidence is a "foregone conclusion,"
then there's no need for the devices to be unlocked at all. The
government should have all the evidence it needs to continue with its
prosecution.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive
http://www.coinhangout.com - coins!
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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