[amelius]

> Lock It Up and Throw Away the (Encryption) Key

That might get you into a lot of legal problems, [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law

[comboy]

You mean filling your disk with some random bits? Is white noise already illegal?

[MertsA]

Well arguably yes. Currently there have been a few cases where judges decided to hold a defendant in contempt of court indefinitely because they claimed to not remember their encryption keys. At least in one of the cases the burden of proof might as well just be if the judge has a hunch.

Here's one notable article from almost a year ago but last I checked he's still being held in contempt. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160428/07395434297/so-mu...

It's one thing to demand that someone turns over their password but currently AFAIK there's no rigorous proof that the data in question is even encrypted or that the defendant had decrypted it in the past beyond "it was on his computer".

[marcosdumay]

Yes, in any place where you are forced to disclose encryption keys.

[rwmj]

    dd if=/dev/urandom of=secret_terror_plan.doc

In the UK that command could get you imprisoned indefinitely, especially if you're under suspicion for other reasons.

[jlgaddis]

Hell, in the early 90s,

  C:\Windows> COPY README.TXT A:\VIRUS.EXE

(or something very similar), got me permanently kicked out of all computer classes in my high school so I can certainly believe that.

Probably even more so in the U.S.

[chinathrow]

As a company depending on your legal requirements, yes.

As a private person? I think not so much.