plausibly deniable

[Robert J. Hansen]

On 7/23/2010 6:08 PM, Ted Smith wrote:
> Nobody in any country is going to torture you for your key, because
> keyloggers are much less expensive than torturers + torturing equipment.

This is not true.  There are documented instances where people have been
tortured to turn over crypto keys.

You are assuming the torturer is a rational human being who has enough
technical chops to know what a keylogger is and how to use it.  In
reality, torture is often the recourse of irrational human beings who,
due to stress, ignorance, or any of dozens of other factors, do not
immediately see a superior way to obtain the information.

Yes, if the authority is rational and technically skilled they will have
many better options than torture.  I just disagree that all authorities,
or even most of them, are both rational and technically skilled.