Minnesota court takes dim view of encryption
This is, in my opinion, quite a draconian, perhaps even bordering on criminally ignorant, view by a state appeals court.
I think the crime for which the man was convicted was appalling, perverted, and deserves every bit of prison time he ultimately gets, but to classify anyone who values their privacy--and uses strong encryption--as attempting to hide criminal activity, is absurdly wrong on its face.
Thanks to Declan McCullagh over on C|Net News for this story:
A Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent.
Ari David Levie, who was convicted of photographing a nude 9-year-old girl, argued on appeal that the PGP encryption utility on his computer was irrelevant and should not have been admitted as evidence during his trial. PGP stands for Pretty Good Privacy and is sold by PGP Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.
But the Minnesota appeals court ruled 3-0 that the trial judge was correct to let that information be used when handing down a guilty verdict.
posted by Fergie @ 5/24/2005 04:00:00 PM
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