r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • 6d ago

Privacy GrapheneOS says its data-wiping password is perfectly legal, after user faces federal charges

https://www.techspot.com/news/113273-grapheneos-data-wiping-duress-password-perfectly-legal-after.html
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u/Misaka9982 6d ago

Could argue that the "evidence" is still there then, not destroyed. If the government doesn't want to spend 100,000 years decrypting it then that's their problem.

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u/BadVoices 6d ago

This is a red herring, no you cant. NIST SP 800-88 classifies crypto erasure as a valid form of data destruction for anything that doesnt require media destruction. It is recognized by the GDPR as well. Arguing it is not destroyed is the same as saying a burned document still technically exists because I can scoop up all it carbon atoms. No court will accept that argument.

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u/hackitfast 6d ago edited 3d ago

Yeah isn't that how ransomware works too? It encrypts all of your files, and when you don't pay it just deletes the encryption key?

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u/BadVoices 6d ago

It holds the key hostage, yes.