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I understand data is encrypted before it ever leaves your machine, but I certainly wouldn't want encrypted data at-rest being exposed. Which gives me concern about Tarnap's terms: "I may provide information concerning your account and your use of the service to 3rd parties, at my sole discretion, if ... It is requested by law enforcement authorities ..." note - no requirement for a court order or subpoena.

https://www.tarsnap.com/legal-why.html#PRIVACYLAW




Note the last paragraph of that: However, I'm serious about saying "at my sole discretion" — if a law enforcement agency wants information, they'd better have a good reason for asking for it... and I don't consider the NSA saying "we want to have all the information you have, just because we feel like it and someone somewhere might be a terrorist" to be a good reason. Also note that unlike the situation with certain illegal wiretaps, I can't give your data to anyone, because it's all encrypted such that I can't read it.

This situation has never arisen, but if I'm confronted by a police officer and enough evidence that I'm sure they could get a court order, I'd rather be cooperative than force them to go through the courts. This doesn't mean that I'd give them any more data than they would get from a court order -- in fact, quite the opposite, since police tend to err on the side of requesting more than they need when going through the courts, and cooperating could change "seize a server" into "get a copy of the required data".


Why would you comply with foreign government agencies?


If the Libyan, or Iranian, or Chinese, or Russian police come knocking, I probably wouldn't.

Beyond that, it's a judgement call. Lots of countries have agreements to assist each others' police forces in obtaining evidence.


They would all be channeled through your local law enforcement though.

If swedish police comes to you directly, you don't have to comply, but if they go through the proper channels, the request to you, comes from canadian police.




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