Police raid friend's house, take his PC and return it with disk wiped for giving out

wezcountry

wezcountry

New member
Aug 31, 2009
1,790
22
0
In the EUSSR
A friend is engaged in local politics in the UK. Recently he was handing out leaflets campaigning against a planned mosque. The leaflet, which does not contain any racist content but is critical of the growth of Islam, was shown to the police not by a muslim but by a member of the Labour party (aka traitor fucks) and an official complaint was made to the police. His home was raided by six cops (I kid you not) and his PC and cell phones were confiscated. He ended-up in court. The police returned his PC but the hard drive was erased. He lost everything because he had no back-ups in place. His fault but ...

Apart from the political implications of the above, which are horrendous and this is happening more and more now in the UK e.g.
English Defence League , I wanted to give him some advice (and for his friends) for the next time this happens (and it will) and I'm hoping for some help from you guys.

First I told him to store his docs etc in the cloud. He used PC Outlook and had everything else on his HDD. I've told him to use webmail. Local police won't be able to ask for access to Gmail, Yahoo etc (I think ...).

Second I want him to encrypt / hide his data. He's not involved in criminal activity but it's a matter of principle and I want it to be as difficult as possible for the police to read his stuff. I had a look at data hiding options but wondered if anyone could recommend something they are actually using. We don't want any sign that the software is even installed.

Dunno bros ... hate the way things are going and just want to help this guy and others like him, so all suggestions welcome.

Thanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: momchil9


Full disk encryption is an option, but I believe the UK has the same laws that Audtaralia has which means they can compel you to hand over the password.

So with that in mind, look into hidden encrypted files systems, like the ones truecrypt offers.

Of course if you have truecrypt install on the PC then it's likely that LEO will asumme you are using it. They might not be able to prove it, but it could cause problem including temporary incarceration.
 
TrueCrypt - Hidden Volume

the basics are, that you use truecrypt to encrypt the disk, *then* you create another encrypted volume inside the encrypted disk volume.

When a raid or whatever happens, you can give them the password for the disk, which will work and they will be able to see the OS etc, anything you *want* them to see. What they wont see, or be able to prove exists, is a hidden volume. They may well ask if one exists, which can be denied and they will have no technical proof one exists, which is covered in this section:

TrueCrypt - Plausible Deniability

edit: I would like to say though, that while principle is a good reason for encryption, the practicalities are a negative imo. Rightly or Wrongly, if he starts going down this route with "authorities" he is just making trouble for himself long term - is it worth it? Sure, one up on them and all, but he'll probably end up spending more time in custody than if he had not encrypted. Unless he does indeed have something to hide ;P
 
Thanks.

Yeah I think it's better to have just one un-findable encrypted folder where he can put his private stuff and have the rest un-encrypted. This gives the appearance of a normal set-up. It's quite reasonable to want to protect private files, he's doing nothing wrong in principle and in any case non of this is criminal - it's just a question of free speech and resisting a politicized police force.

What's the best way to hide your files in the cloud?
 
Wow this is bullshit. This would never happen in HK. I'm glad HK is no longer a British colony. I think the UK was a better place in the 90s, but it got fucked up after 9/11 and the London bombings.

The terrorists won.
 
wezcountry said:
What's the best way to hide your files in the cloud?
Click to expand...

truecrypt can work with a volume file in mainstream "the cloud", obviously the file will be obvious, but it'll still have the strength of the encryption you choose via truecrypt. No plausible deniability though. There may be progress in this area.

A better option imo is to get a VPS/dedi and VPN up to it, work it in much the same way, i.e. truecrypt the linux distro, then put a hidden volume on it. Use regular backup tools to sync.

Another point - if he gets raided while the PC/laptop is on and logged in, he will need to be v.quick on his feet to shut it down - else they will be straight in no pass phrases required!
 
wezcountry said:
A friend is engaged in local politics in the UK. Recently he was handing out leaflets campaigning against a planned mosque
Click to expand...

wezcountry said:
it's just a question of free speech
Click to expand...

"Defending the controversial use of property should be no more difficult than defending the 1st Amendment principle of defending controversial speech." - Ron Paul


resisting a politicized police force
Click to expand...

The same type of force that some would want to be used to prevent buildings from being erected on private property?

RonPaul_1_jpg_407x1000_q100.jpg
 
I hate the EDL but that is out of order. It's quite disturbing what police can get away with these days now that they have 'anti-terror' laws and arrest people for posting poor taste remarks about someone on Twitter etc.

AdamC's post pretty much hits the nail. I'd advise using a hidden Truecrypt partition and have a 'fake' hidden partition to 'reveal' as the true one.
 
microphone head said:
I hate the EDL but that is out of order. It's quite disturbing what police can get away with these days now that they have 'anti-terror' laws and arrest people for posting poor taste remarks about someone on Twitter etc.

AdamC's post pretty much hits the nail. I'd advise using a hidden Truecrypt partition and have a 'fake' hidden partition to 'reveal' as the true one.
Click to expand...

Sorry, my friend isn't in the EDL - that link is an example of what happened to Tommy Robinson and is happening to others who protest against Islam in the UK (and other issues I guess). He's also doing nothing wrong but there seems to be an agenda about this issue which is rippling down to the ordinary innocent person. And I want to help him.
 
wezcountry said:
Sorry, my friend isn't in the EDL - that link is an example of what happened to Tommy Robinson and is happening to others who protest against Islam in the UK (and other issues I guess). He's also doing nothing wrong but there seems to be an agenda about this issue which is rippling down to the ordinary innocent person. And I want to help him.
Click to expand...

Indeed. You can thank certain tabloid scum for a large percentage of that I'm sure.

This sort of shit adds to the ever-growing list of reasons gradually convincing me to quit this country and move to a happier & warmer place. (I'm not under any illusion that the grass is always greener elsewhere etc. though.)
 
This sound shitty however your friend needs to get a life instead of making flyers and involving himself in these stupid antics.

Bitlocker/google drive/skydrive and you'll be good to go.
 
microphone head said:
Indeed. You can thank certain tabloid scum for a large percentage of that I'm sure.

This sort of shit adds to the ever-growing list of reasons gradually convincing me to quit this country and move to a happier & warmer place. (I'm not under any illusion that the grass is always greener elsewhere etc. though.)
Click to expand...

Are you in the UK? I left 5 years ago to Italy. Although there are other problems (by the boatload shall we say) this sort of gestapo crap isn't happen here. Italy also has a fab climate, beautiful women, great food and wine, amazing cultural heritage (which is crumbling away) and you're only a couple of hours by klm to the UK.
 
kumansk said:
Raid for a bit of political activism? Don't people speak out and do that all the time in UK?
Click to expand...

They step on people that protest against Islam. I think they are nervous of the consequences of a ground swell of people start taking to the streets (hence the 'decapitation' of the EDL), but individuals in provincial cities are an easy target.

Point is ... I want to help him and others to protect their privacy.
 
Yep - I'm still in London, but I think in 2014 that will change somehow.

I assume Italy has a similar cost of living to Uk? Certainly enjoys finer weather... and I guess if you like feisty women then it's ideal! ;)

I'm actually thinking about the far east, although I have quite a few friends in Aus & NZ so that might be a good option.

Anyway - get your friend to Truecrypt his important drives as use the hidden partition. As for email - well we all know how Google treat privacy... so I'm not sure gmail is the best option, but there are plenty of ways of skinning a cat.
 
microphone head said:
Yep - I'm still in London, but I think in 2014 that will change somehow.

I assume Italy has a similar cost of living to Uk? Certainly enjoys finer weather... and I guess if you like feisty women then it's ideal! ;)

I'm actually thinking about the far east, although I have quite a few friends in Aus & NZ so that might be a good option.

Anyway - get your friend to Truecrypt his important drives as use the hidden partition. As for email - well we all know how Google treat privacy... so I'm not sure gmail is the best option, but there are plenty of ways of skinning a cat.
Click to expand...

Hell no man. I was in Italy a month ago, venice and rome. Far cheaper than London in every way. You're right about the weather though.

If you're thinking far east you can't go wrong with HK.
 
Encryption isn't going to help you get your data back if someone wipes the drive.

I don't understand how it can be legal for the police to wipe someone's drive if they haven't been convicted of anything, imagine it was paper documents (I assume) they wouldn't be allowed to black them out.
 
j0hnsmith said:
I don't understand how it can be legal for the police to wipe someone's drive if they haven't been convicted of anything, imagine it was paper documents (I assume) they wouldn't be allowed to black them out.
Click to expand...

Maybe its not. Police forces do things they arent allowed to do but what are you gonna do about it. Pull a gun on them? Britfags gon britfag.

"no we dont need weapons weve got the police to do that for us"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom