[JoeAltmaier]

Its an electronic search of a device in the FBI's possession. Clearly this is a modern issue that exceeds the language of the Constitution etc. Its a fair question - how much extra work can a manufacturer be compelled to do for the FBI, to enable them to understand the device/information they have already seized? The word 'search' is being stretched to the breaking point here.

[tptacek]

I do not concede the point that "electronics" somehow bring controversies outside the scope of the Constitution. The Constitution didn't foresee electrical power, automobiles, or telephony either. Human air travel was a fantasy when the Constitution was drafted, and we didn't have to amend it to deal with airspace controversies.

What I do think is that people who are intimately involved with new technologies will tend to believe that the complexities of their technologies must somehow swamp the Constitution.

[JoeAltmaier]

I wish that wasn't true. But govt seems to think that way. Personally I think searching my laptop ought to be covered under freedom of the press, but it isn't. Email should get the same protections as snail mail, but no love there.

No, its not the technologists who don't get it.

Anyway to the point: we need to clarify if searching my house, and searching my person, and searching my laptop, and searching my cloud-based email history are in the same class. Hell, even searching my breath or blood isn't protected like they should be. Its a long way from clear, what Constitutional protections are extended to modern situation and which aren't. Technology has challenged everything we thought we knew.

[ethbro]

Fair point. What are the laws on producing evidence, whereby the evidence constitutes a challenge to review?

E.g. If I was ordered to produce logs that may be evidence in a case, and I only had and only produced a 10GB+ text log with a single line the warrant was interested in. Can a warrant order me to parse the log to find the relevant information?

Furthermore, at what point does a digital space become similar to a physical space? When I can carry 3 hard drives that can contain almost as much information as the Library of Congress print collections, is it reasonable to think of them as "one thing" for legal purposes? In that if you have access to the physical container, you have access to all its contents?

[aniro]

If I remember, Lavabit attempted just such a "Big Sky" tactic with the logs (or a similar set of files) in their case and it was deemed a transparent attempt to obfuscate.

[ethbro]

That was the SSL key delivered on 11 pages of printout in 4pt type. A bit less arguable than compelling someone to find the needle in their haystack for you.

[1] http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-lavabit-melted-do...