Hubert Chathi

A Minnesota court has allowed the presence of PGP on a defendant’s computer to be admitted as evidence. (/.) (PGP is an encryption program.) The question of whether law enforcement officials actually found encrypted files, or determined that the defendant had used PGP for illegal purposes, seemed to be irrelevant. The mere presence of PGP was allowed as evidence of criminal intent.

So for all the judges in Minnesota: I use encryption. I have GnuPG (which is very similar to PGP) on my computer. All my data is encrypted. Most of the network traffic coming out of my computer is encrypted. I guess that means I’m guilty of conspiring to <insert your favourite crime here>.

Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not defending the guy’s actions. If he is guilty of distributing child pornography, he should be locked up for a long time. But he does have the right to a fair trial, and admitting bogus evidence like that doesn’t do much in the way of getting a fair trial. This is just an example of what happens when technology grows faster than society’s ability to understand it: fear, uncertainty, and doubt.