2 in 1: what is your cover & what exactly is fair game in a raid?

[InvisibleEmpire]

1.) If you grow for more than just personal stash, what is your cover to family, friends, as far as answers on where your finances come from especially if you don't work or hold a conventional job?

2.) When a raid goes down, what is fair game in the raid aside from the plants, pots, etc? Are computers fair game? I've always wondered this because I tell myself if i ever have the chance destroy my hard drives if I have time as in my history I'm sure ICMAG and other various illegal copies of software would be found just adding to the list of charges.

 

[peacenotgreed]

...

 

[jaspmf]

you people suck

 

[InvisibleEmpire]

If you have time (IE, are worried about an impending raid and you have it on good faith that there is one coming) you can destroy your hard drive many ways making all data irretrievable...problem is most raids are conducted so quickly that the homeowner never really has a chance to do much - that's the point of it being a raid.

I know if you have a short amount of time there are programs you can run, almost like boot programs or something of that nature in which it "erases" or "boot kills" the hard drive but i know most formats take 45+ minutes and many security experts can still retrieve data after numerous formats...so i'm unsure on how these would work.

Actually, depending encryption might save your ass. If by some chance you are ordered to provide said passphrase, and you don't, what happens...charged with destroying evidence or something similar? I'd rather do that because in the end, what if the evidence on the computer is the deciding factor in convincing a judge, or jury? You might get a separate charge, but if that separate charge saves you from the initial charge...you never know, every situation is different.

My main concern would be because I have pirated software and if they truly wanted to get me, they could see all the movies i have on my hard drive illegally copied and notify the MPAA...i'd be fucked on that alone! I think my plan will be to keep a tower for gaming with a nice big monitor, then get a laptop in which the laptop has an external hard drive connected to it with all the 'questionable' content - IE a directory of applications, music, movies, etc. That way if i'm being raided I can have enough time to simply take 4 or 5 whacks with a hammer to the hard drive and just to keep it portable incase i need to just have someone keep it in their possession. People underestimate how damaging info on a PC can be.

&jas - encyrption is a normal security measure and any good lawyer can argue that it was simply to protect the data on the PC, the data is unrelated to the charges and therefore passphase does not need to be provided. again if they order you to provide it, you don't have to. that's your right to choose to do so but keep in mind, you might get additional charges.

PS, 512bit encryption is almost impossible to crack let alone some local city law enforcement...


Plausible Deniability

In case an adversary forces you to reveal your password, TrueCrypt provides and supports two kinds of plausible deniability:

Hidden volumes (see the section Hidden Volume) and hidden operating systems (see the section Hidden Operating System).

Until decrypted, a TrueCrypt partition/device appears to consist of nothing more than random data (it does not contain any kind of "signature"). Therefore, it should be impossible to prove that a partition or a device is a TrueCrypt volume or that it has been encrypted (provided that the security requirements and precautions listed in the chapter Security Requirements and Precautions are followed). A possible plausible explanation for the existence of a partition/device containing solely random data is that you have wiped (securely erased) the content of the partition/device using one of the tools that erase data by overwriting it with random data (in fact, TrueCrypt can be used to securely erase a partition/device too, by creating an empty encrypted partition/device-hosted volume within it). However, you need to prevent data leaks (see the section Data Leaks) and also note that, for system encryption, the first drive track contains the (unencrypted) TrueCrypt Boot Loader, which can be easily identified as such (for more information, see the chapter System Encryption). When using system encryption, plausible deniability can be achieved by creating a hidden operating system (see the section Hidden Operating System).

Although file-hosted TrueCrypt volumes (containers) do not contain any kind of "signature" either (until decrypted, they appear to consist solely of random data), they cannot provide this kind of plausible deniability, because there is practically no plausible explanation for the existence of a file containing solely random data. However, plausible deniability can still be achieved with a file-hosted TrueCrypt volume (container) by creating a hidden volume within it (see above).

Notes
When formatting a hard disk partition as a TrueCrypt volume (or encrypting a partition in place), the partition table (including the partition type) is never modified (no TrueCrypt "signature" or "ID" is written to the partition table).

There are methods to find files or devices containing random data (such as TrueCrypt volumes). Note, however, that this should not affect plausible deniability in any way. The adversary still should not be able to prove that the partition/device is a TrueCrypt volume or that the file, partition, or device, contains a hidden TrueCrypt volume (provided that you follow the security requirements and precautions listed in the chapter Security Requirements and Precautions and in the subsection Security Requirements and Precautions Pertaining to Hidden Volumes).

 

[peacenotgreed]

...

 

[peacenotgreed]

...

 

[Baba Ku]

Extra charges for not giving up a password?
So, the 5th amendment has no bearing in these situations? We only have the right to remain silent until the judge asks us to give up our passwords?
Please....lets get real here, folks.

"I got 30 days for not incriminating myself..."


(folks don't ever defend yourselves in court...DO get a lawyer)

 

[jaspmf]

you people suck

 

[sac beh]

This pretty much means that, if you had to ask, you're better off not encrypting at all. You don't know more about computers than the computer guys do. This means that if they find "encrypted files" on your computer, it will pretty much be assumed "interesting data" and I can guarantee you 99.99% that you're going to be asked for the passphrase. Even if it doesn't have anything incriminating, you'll just look that much more guilty until the contents are revealed.

This really isn't good advice. Its basically saying that its better to not protect your privacy because someone--a judge, cop, computer forensics expert, etc.--could overcome your privacy measures and/or force you to reveal them.

In fact, TrueCrypt was a great suggestion and using it basically makes the above advice irrelevant:

1) TrueCrypt can encrypt a drive in such a way that its hard to prove that the drive is encrypted or has data on it, rather than just being a wiped/empty drive.

2) TrueCrypt allows you to create hidden volumes which provide plausible deniability. This means that if you are absolutely *forced* to give up your passphrase (under torture or extreme legal coercion), you can give a password which decrypted only a section of the drive, leaving the hidden part still encrypted under a different passphrase, with no way to discover this. So let's say you create a 20GB volume, where you will store important, daily use files. You would create a 1MB portion with bogus/innocent files, and the rest for real use. You can open the volume by decrypting the false part or the "real" hidden part, with no way to prove that the other part exists at all.

Read more on plausible deniability here: http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=plausible-deniability
http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=hidden-volume

 

[OGfarmerted]

yo yo yo, another area i know something about.
yes, they do sock people with contempt and destroying evidence for wiping drives and using encryption without giving up the password.

windows users- ccleaner,heidi eraser and set to plausible deniability. once done, fill the hard drive with movies, music and other crap. once full and no memory left, delete and defrag and then reload a fresh install of windows

linux- use bleach bit and do the same as above with files to fill the hard drive. repeat this step a few times and install fresh OS. with linux it doesnt take long. this will keep the master file table clean and data that you dont want recovered hidden beneath layers of crap.

the whole ideal is dispersing the data,hiding its pathways and then covering it all up a few times and rendering any recovery attempts futile.

 

[jaspmf]

you people suck

 

[sac beh]

Settle down bro. I'm a professional in the field.

It doesn't matter if people know of TrueCrypt or not. You're not understanding the legal issues involved. You cannot be forced to reveal a password to an encrypted volume that doesn't exist or cannot be proved to exist.

In court I could be called in as a witness for the defendant to demonstrate how there is no proof of encrypted data. Of course people like you who don't understand this would just allow the prosecution to walk all over you with computer forensic experts.

 

[jaspmf]

you people suck

 

[sac beh]

That's great, but you still don't give good legal advice. Take no measures to insure your privacy and/or never store private things because they'll find it anyway.

 

[Phedrosbenny]

If you have a "good lawyer", why the fuck are you on IC asking for legal advice from middle school drop-outs?

This is a bit rude.If this is actually what you think of the people here then why are you gracing us with your vast intellect instead of saving the world or something.

Smart guy couldnt figure out how to grow a plant huh..who is a middle school drop out?

 

[jaspmf]

you people suck

 

[sac beh]

Why are you being so rude, resorting to personal attacks, on a growers forum? You're really gonna use the argument that because we like cannabis we can't have reasonable views on these matters?

 

[jaspmf]

you people suck

 

[Zen Master]

I'd worry about them taking nice valuable stuff, like your TV, xbox, maybe even cars if you've got enough green layin around....

they'll say its 'ill gotten gains' and keep it for themselves....


regarding the computer, if you're big enough to where they are throwing multiple felonies, they WILL look into your PC to see if you happen to run a meth lab someplace else or have terabytes of child porn, they'll do all kinds of shitty things to try and screw ya over IF they do end up comin thru the door.

lol there's no time to run some wiping or encryption program.... your security program at that moment in time you hear "police with a warrant" is called a hammer. go get it and smash your fuckin hard drive if you have anything incriminating on it.

 

[sac beh]

I really hate it when someone with so little experience, knowledge... basically, "no clue" acts like they're some professional in this field, and tries to take down and discredit any good advice given by folks who actually know what they're talking about.

It's extremely common, especially on the growers forums. I see it day in, day out, minute in, minute out, almost every single thread.

The OP will be the final judge on the matter, and everyone will weigh the evidence and decide what's best for them. But ICmag is full of growers and smokers who are intelligent, respectful people in their personal lives, many professionals. Using the "stoner logic" argument here is just a silly ad hominem attempt to distract from the issue.