Daily Archives: September 22, 2014

Google and Apple Wont Unlock Your Phone, But a Court Can Make You Do It

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 9:51 pm

Silicon Valleys smartphone snitching has come to an end. Apple and Google have promised that the latest versions of their mobile operating systems make it impossible for them to unlock encrypted phones, even when compelled to do so by the government. But if the Department of Justice cant demand that its corporate friends unlock your phone, it may have another option: Politely asking that you unlock it yourself, and letting you rot in a cell until you do.

In many cases, the American judicial system doesnt view an encrypted phone as an insurmountable privacy protection for those accused of a crime. Instead, its seen as an obstruction of the evidence-gathering process, and a stubborn defendant or witness can be held in contempt of court and jailed for failing to unlock a phone to provide that evidence. With Apple and Google no longer giving law enforcement access to customers devices, those standoffs may now become far more common. You can expect to see more cases where authorities are thwarted by encryption, and the result is youll see more requests that suspects decrypt phones themselves, says Hanni Fakhoury, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And by requests, I mean demands. As in, you do it or youll be held in contempt of court.

In some cases, the Fifth Amendments protection against self-incrimination may block such demands, under the argument that forcing defendants to unlock their phone would compel them to testify to their own guilt. But the few cases where suspects have pleaded the Fifth to avoid decrypting a PCthe legal equivalent of a smartphonehave had messy, sometimes contradictory outcomes. This is not a settled question, says James Grimmelmann, a professor at the University of Maryland Law School. And it likely wont be, he says, until more appeals courts or the Supreme Court consider the issue.

Grimmelmann does, however, offer one general guideline for whether a Fifth Amendment argument will keep the cops out of your locked phone and you out of jail: If the police dont know what theyre going to find inside, he says, they cant make you unlock it.

In 2011, for instance, a Florida man identified only as John Doe had two computers and five external hard drives seized in a child pornography investigation. (He was never charged with a crime, so his name was not revealed in court.) Doe had encrypted his drives with TrueCrypt, and took the Fifth to avoid having to unlock them. The court ruled that forcing him to surrender his password and decryption keys would be the same as making him provide self-incriminating testimony, and let him off the hook.

In a Vermont case in 2009, by contrast, a child pornography defendant named Sebastien Boucher made the mistake of allowing police access to his computer following his arrest at the Canadian border. They found child pornography, but after seizing his computer realized the portion of the hard drive containing the incriminating files was encrypted. They demanded Boucher cough up the password. He refused, pleading the Fifth. A judge ruled against him, calling the contents of the computer a foregone conclusion. The police didnt need Bouchers testimony to get the files, in other wordsthey only needed him to stop obstructing access to them.

Not every case is so clear-cut. In 2012, a Colorado district court ruled thatRamona Fricosu, a defendant in a mortgage fraud case, had to surrender the password to her locked laptop after she was heard on a recorded phone call telling her co-defendant husband that the incriminating evidence was encrypted. That call was enough to nullify her Fifth amendment argument. As with Boucher, the judge ruled that she give police access to the files or be held in contempt.

Even if you have a Fifth Amendment right to avoid compelled decryption, you have to be very circumspect in how you behave, warns Grimmelmann. The court may only find in favor of defendants who have been very careful about not talking to law enforcement and who have been very well advised in keeping in their head down.

Depending on where the law settles, it could leave few cases where the Fifth Amendment protects locked phones at all. Former prosecutor and George Washington University Law Professor Orin Kerr argued in a piece for The Washington Post on Friday that merely confirming that a phone belongs to you and admitting you know the passcode circumvents the Fifth Amendment. If the phones in the suspects hand or in his pocket when the government finds it, thats not going to be hard to show, he wrote. He pointed to the Boucher case. Under the relevant case law, that makes all the difference: Entering in the password no longer raises a Fifth Amendment problem.

Using Apples TouchID to unlock a phone represents another way to compel suspects to open their phone. As defense attorney Marcia Hofmann wrote for WIRED last year, a fingerprint isnt testimony. So demanding a suspect extend their hand allows for no Fifth Amendment defense. Other biometric unlocking mechanisms would be equally vulnerable. We cant invoke the privilege against self-incrimination to prevent the government from collecting biometrics like fingerprints, DNA samples, or voice exemplars. Hofmann wrote. The courts have decided that this evidence doesnt reveal anything you know.

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GOP fumes over Lerner remarks

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House Republicans are steaming that ex-IRS official Lois Lerner decided to talk to POLITICO for a profile on her life after twice taking the Fifth before Congress.

Lerner refused to answer questions before House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issas panel and quickly became the center of the tea party targeting saga that erupted 16 months ago. The former head of the IRS tax exempt unit declared her innocence in the interview, as she has maintained throughout, but would not discuss her time at the IRS in the run-up to the firestorm.

Republicans, who voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress and held countless hearings blasting her for refusing to speak, said it was unfair for her to speak to media and not lawmakers.

Her decision to make unsubstantiated claims to a media outlet while claiming Fifth Amendment protections from answering Congress questions is telling, Issa (R-Calif.) said in a statement on Monday. She appears to have great confidence that her allies in the Obama Administration will not consider legal action after she resigned and declined to discuss the IRS actions against private citizens.

(Also on POLITICO: Exclusive: Lois Lerner breaks silence)

The scandal erupted in May 2013 after Lerner, at the behest of her boss, acknowledged that her division had given added scrutiny to conservative groups using search terms like tea party. A damning inspector general report followed, which led to President Barack Obama firing the acting IRS chief, congressional hearings and an FBI probe.

Although Lerner acknowledged she is a Democrat, she said her political leanings never affected her work. Republicans have released emails showing she took an interest in GOP nonprofit Crossroads GPS, including asking why the group was not audited and suggesting the group should be denied tax-exempt status.

House Speaker John Boehners staff posted a blog calling out Lerner for telling POLITICO she is not sorry for anything I did.

Thanks to President Obama and his cadre of cover-up artists, we still dont know what exactly that entailed, his communications adviser, Matt Wolking, wrote in a blog.

Meanwhile Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the IRS Oversight subcommittee, called the interview a poke in the eye to the American citizens who were targeted by the IRS.

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Volokh Conspiracy: When administrative inspections of businesses turn into massive armed police raids

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From Berry v. Leslie (11th Cir. Sept. 16, 2014):

It was a scene right out of a Hollywood movie. On Aug. 21, 2010, after more than a month of planning, teams from the Orange County Sheriffs Office descended on multiple target locations. They blocked the entrances and exits to the parking lots so no one could leave and no one could enter. With some team members dressed in ballistic vests and masks, and with guns drawn, the deputies rushed into their target destinations, handcuffed the stunned occupants and demanded to see their barbers licenses. The Orange County Sheriffs Office was providing muscle for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations administrative inspection of barbershops to discover licensing violations.

We first held 19 years ago that conducting a run-of-the-mill administrative inspection as though it is a criminal raid, when no indication exists that safety will be threatened by the inspection, violates clearly established Fourth Amendment rights. See Swint v. City of Wadley, 51 F.3d 988 (11th Cir. 1995). We reaffirmed that principle in 2007 when we held that other deputies of the very same Orange County Sheriffs Office who participated in a similar warrantless criminal raid under the guise of executing an administrative inspection were not entitled to qualified immunity. See Bruce v. Beary, 498 F.3d 1232 (11th Cir. 2007). Today, we repeat that same message once again. We hope that the third time will be the charm.

The Fourth Amendment guarantees [t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. Its protections apply to commercial premises, as well as to private homes. In general, the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant supported by probable cause to effectuate a constitutional search. Indeed, this Court has explained, The basic premise of search and seizure doctrine is that searches undertaken without a warrant issued upon probable cause are `per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendmentsubject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions.

One of those limited exceptions involves administrative inspections of closely regulated industries. Because an owner or operator of commercial property has a reduced expectation of privacy in this context, the standard for what may be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment is correspondingly broader.

To fall within this exception, a warrantless inspection must satisfy three criteria: (1) a `substantial government interest [must] inform[] the regulatory scheme pursuant to which the inspection is made; (2) the inspection must be necessary to further [the] regulatory scheme; and (3) the statutes inspection program, in terms of the certainty and regularity of its application, [must] provid[e] a constitutionally adequate substitute for a warrant. The regulatory statute must [also] be sufficiently comprehensive and defined such that it limits the discretion of inspecting officers. Where a statute authorizes the inspection but makes no rules governing the procedures that inspectors must follow, the Fourth Amendment and its various restrictive rules apply.

But even when the criteria set forth above are met, to satisfy the Fourth Amendment, an administrative inspection must be appropriately limited in both scope and execution and may not serve as a backdoor for undertaking a warrantless search unsupported by probable cause. Above all, such inspections may never circumvent the Fourth Amendments requirement for reasonableness. In this regard, an administrative screening search must be as limited in its intrusiveness as is consistent with satisfaction of the administrative need that justifies it.

As detailed earlier, the regulatory framework for barbershop inspections in Florida is embodied in Fla. Stat. 476.184 and its implementing rules. In particular, 476.184 requires all barbershops to have a license issued by the DBPR and directs the Florida Barbers Board to adopt rules governing the operation and periodic inspection of barbershops licensed in Florida. Rule 61G3-19.015(1), Fla. Admin. Code, in turn, provides that the DBPR may conduct inspections biennially on a random, unannounced basis. The regulatory framework, which sets forth who may conduct such inspections, notifies barbers that only the DBPR is so authorized. In this case, no one disputes that the DBPR possesses statutory authority to conduct warrantless inspections of barbershops, nor do the parties assert that the statute authorizing such inspections is constitutionally impermissible.

Instead, the plaintiffs contend that the search of Strictly Skillz, which they allege was undertaken with an inordinate display of force, failed to conform to the Fourth Amendments requirement for reasonableness. Because we have twice held, on facts disturbingly similar to those presented here, that a criminal raid executed under the guise of an administrative inspection is constitutionally unreasonable, we agree.

Unlike previous inspections of Strictly Skillz, which were all conducted by a single DBPR inspector without the aid of law enforcement, the August 21 search was executed with a tremendous and disproportionate show of force, and no evidence exists that such force was justified. Despite the fact that neither OCSO nor the DBPR had any reason to believe that the inspection of Strictly Skillz posed a threat to officer safety, the record indicates that several OCSO officers entered the barbershop wearing masks and bulletproof vests, and with guns drawn; surrounded the building and blocked all of the exits; forced all of the children and other customers to leave; announced that the business was closed down indefinitely; and handcuffed and conducted pat-down searches of the employees while the officers searched the premises. Such a search, which bears no resemblance to a routine inspection for barbering licenses, is certainly not reasonable in scope and execution. Rather, [i]t is the conduct of officers conducting a raid.

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Piers Morgan and Various Debators on FIrearms – Video

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Piers Morgan and Various Debators on FIrearms
Piers Morgan debating a variety of people on the Second Amendment. Twitter: https;//twitter.com/TheSecondAmdmt Tumblr: https;//TheSecondAmdmt.tumblr.com.

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Volokh Conspiracy: Is there a right to contribute to out-of-state elections?

Posted: at 9:50 pm

Josh Blackman links to an interesting new speech by (retired) Justice Stevens about the Courts campaign finance jurisprudence. Among other things, Justice Stevens argues that there ought to be little protection (or no protection?) for campaign contributions made across state lines. He begins . . .:

In the first sentence of his controlling opinion [in McCutcheon v. FEC] the Chief Justice correctly states that there is no right more basic to our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders. 188 L. Ed.2d 468, 482. And in his concluding paragraph he correctly describes that right as the First Amendment right of citizens to choose who shall govern them. Id., at 507 (Emphases added).

McCutcheons complaint, however, makes it clear that his objection to the federal statute was based entirely on its impairment of his ability to influence the election of political leaders for whom he had no right to vote. He is an Alabama citizen; in the 2012 election cycle he made equal contributions to different candidates, only two of whom were from Alabama. The other thirteen were campaigning in California, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Of primary significance is the fact that his only complaint about the federal statute was its prohibition against his making contributions in 2014 to candidates in twelve other non-Alabama elections Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Minnesota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

To the best of my knowledge in none of the Courts cases prior to McCutcheon has the Court even mentioned a citizens supposed right to participate in elections in which he or she has no right to vote. It surely has not characterized it as a basic right of unparalleled importance.

Among other things, Justice Stevens draws on Bluman v. FEC, an opinion by Judge Kavanaugh that held that non-resident aliens had no right to make contributions or expenditures about American elections, and that was summarily affirmed (unanimously!) by the Supreme Court.

This is an interesting point, although I am not at all convinced by Justice Stevenss analysis. For a different take, here is an excerpt from Jessica Bulman-Pozens recent article, Partisan Federalism:

Bluman v. FEC: Political Engagement Across State Lines

In recent years, political engagement across state lines has increased dramatically. This engagement is not limited to out-of-state spending for federal representatives, but also extends to state electoral contests and referenda. In the 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, for instance, out-of-state contributions made up a majority of Governor Scott Walkers arsenal and nearly a third of challenger Tom Barretts funds. For South Dakotas 2006 referendum on abortion, a substantial majority of the funds for both sides came from other states. As one commentator puts it: Means of communication, fundraising and also campaigning are becoming nationaland its affecting state and even local races.

Cross-state engagement furnishes powerful evidence of partisan federalism. For one thing, party organizations are among the most active cross-state participants; the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into state races in the past decade.261 Party actors recognize the power of the states as platforms for national conflict. But so too do individuals, who get involved directly in out-of-state politics for many reasons. In some cases, a donor might contemplate moving to a different state to take advantage of a new policy or visiting to benefit from the policy during a briefer stay. In other cases, one states decisions may effectively set policy for the entire nation. But in perhaps the largest number of cases, Americans do not stand to benefit immediately or directly from out-of-state political involvement. Instead, they seek to create momentum for a particular policy or political party, to build a real-life example to inform national debate, or simply to take comfort in knowing that their preferences are actual policyand their partisan group is in control somewhere. By channeling money toward states other than their own and embracing the kind of surrogate representation I have explored in Part III, these individuals are enacting partisan federalism.

If we see cross-state political participation, however, it is not because existing federalism doctrine or theory supports the practice. Instead, it is because such activity has been protected as expression under the First Amendment. Today, only Alaska and Hawaii impose any limits on out-of-state contributions, and no state limits out-of-state expenditures. Although the Alaska Supreme Court upheld the states residency-based limits, citing deep suspicions of the motives and wisdom of those who, from outside its borders, wish to remold Alaska, federal courts have rejected, on First Amendment grounds, attempts by other states to impose similar restrictions. Courts have also largely invalidatedas inconsistent with the First Amendmentstate requirements that petition circulators be state residents. While these courts have focused on the expressive dimensions of cross-border contributions and expenditures and have not considered their validity from a federalism perspective, a recent case raises the question of whether such expressive activity undermines American federalism and may accordingly be proscribed. In Bluman v. FEC, a three-judge panel of the D.C. District Court took up a loose end left by the Supreme Courts holding in Citizens United v. FEC: whether the Government has a compelling interest in preventing foreign individuals or associations from influencing our Nations political process. In a decision summarily affirmed by the Supreme Court, the court upheld a provision of federal law that prohibits foreign nationals from making contributions or expenditures in connection with federal, state, or local elections. The court reasoned that the case did not turn on the First Amendment questions that have dominated campaign finance jurisprudence but rather a foundational question about the definition of the American political community. It is fundamental to the definition of our national political community, the court maintained, that foreign citizens do not have a constitutional right to participate in, and thus may be excluded from, activities of democratic self-government. Recognizing political contributions and expenditures as integral to electoral processes, the court proceeded to define them as both speech and participation in democratic self-government. Accordingly, it reasoned, limitations on foreign contributions and expenditures are all part of the sovereigns obligation to preserve the basic conception of a political community.

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MazaCoin: The First Native American Cryptocurrency (Documentary) | Mashable – Video

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MazaCoin: The First Native American Cryptocurrency (Documentary) | Mashable
Can Bitcoin solve poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation? Payu Harris thinks so. The South Dakota entrepreneur is trying to convince his tribe, the Ogl...

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Cryptocurrency Market Trendline – Video

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Cryptocurrency Market Trendline
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Bitcoin 101 – How to start with Cryptocurrency – Video

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Bitcoin 101 - How to start with Cryptocurrency
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C.A.T Cryptsy automatic trader BOT Bitcoin , Litecoin and all cryptocurrency trading software – Video

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C.A.T Cryptsy automatic trader BOT Bitcoin , Litecoin and all cryptocurrency trading software
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BitcoinDarks Collaborative Network SuperNET Bringing Together Cryptocurrencies Worldwide

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BitcoinDark prepares to share their cutting-edge technology with other dev teams when launching collaborative network SuperNET. Over 3500 Bitcoin has been raised for the SuperNet ICO so far.

September 17, 2014 /MM-BitcoinPR/

Proof of Stake cryptocurrency BitcoinDark enters the Bitcoin arena with unique technical advancements such as the teleportation system with the ability to turn any alt coin completely anonymous, InstantDEX decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, tradebots for an optimal trading experience and the infrastructure to turn any alt coin in to Bitcoin: enabling trading everywhere BTC is accepted.

BitcoinDark is now preparing to share their cutting-edge technology with other dev teams when launching collaborative network SuperNET, also called UNITY, an exclusive network designed to unite the most unique cryptocurrencies worldwide. Over 3500 BTC has been raised for the SuperNet ICO so far. BTCD strives to unite the ever expanding cryptocurrency community bringing back decentralization, openness and anonymity.

BitcoinDark completely anonymous Proof-of-Stake digital currency will generate 5% annual staking revenue for holders for more than 60 years, as well as allowing off-blockchain transactions. BTCD stake holders will also profit from BTCD?s various revenues. BitcoinDark is so far the only cryptocurrency that gives the stakeholders the option to earn rewards in Bitcoin. BTCD is already available on cryptocurrency exchanges Bittrex, Atomic Trade, Cryptsy and Poloniex.

The BTCD team has worked tirelessly to build up the infrastructure to support SuperNET; a new initiative designed to gather unique technology in one place, foster collaboration between cryptocurrencies, reward innovation and encourage active coin communities. SuperNET is not meant to replace other cryptocurrencies or become one alt coin but to strengthen the coins by giving them influence and purchasing power. BTCD is looking for alt coins which are enriching the cryptocurrency ecosystem by offering avant-garde solutions and innovative technology hence alt coins that replicate existing currencies will be discarded. The CORE currencies will be able to share each others features through a combined wallet, similar to the NXT wallet, the information is exclusively for members and will be handled with discretion.

SuperNET is not only a collaborative cryptocurrency hub enabling the cryptocurrency community to reach new heights in technological achievements but also a network bringing prosperity to its members. Several additional projects generating revenue will be used to reward SuperNET holders; from targeted advertising and transaction fees from anonymity protocols to betting revenues and trading gains. The CORE shareholders will profit from any revenues raised in order to strengthen CORE coin communities by investing in development, and make improvements to other key areas of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

With the announced call for action among cryptocurrency developers and altcoin communities worldwide, BitcoinDark might very well be a game changer in the cryptocurrency arena. A gathering on this scale of professionals and entrepreneurs worldwide is so far unprecedented in the history of the cryptocurrency economical movement. The willingness to share their own unique technology like decentralised cryptocurrency exchange InstantDEX, tradebots and new teleportation system allowing truly trust-less transactions shows that BitcoinDark strives to create a Network bringing both prosperity and unity to the cryptocurrency space.

To learn more about SuperNET: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=762346.0

BitcoinDark official bitcointalk thread: bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=684090.0/

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