Makes me wonder why criminals don't sue lock smiths for not adequately securing their homes when the police kick through their door.

And what does surfing porn websites have to do with illegal gun trading in anyway?

It's all to do with the size of the 'weapon' in use.

Personally I'd be done for a crime relating to a WMD, honest, no seriously honest!!

You state that "Simple deletion does not put files beyond forensic recovery, as any tech-savvy Reg reader will know" but what about the other %99.9 of windowz users?

Deletion means it's gone. NOT its gone unles someone who is tech savvy is looking for it. Criminal or no. I hope this guy wins.

Oh and what are "BATF agents" I take it you mean 'ATF agents' as they are known the world over??? :-)

I mean, if he was to win this case anyone would be able to say that there information has not actually been deleted although it should have been? doesnt it potentially mean half the world could sue?

"Personally I'd be done for a crime relating to a WMD, honest, no seriously honest!!"

Only if you chose to work for criminals rather than with them, Ian C.

... for at least the basic, plastered-all-over-the-packaging declared features.

How many corporates are using DiveLock and like software to secure sensitive customer data?

There appears to be an increasingly prevalent attitude that a criminal loses all their rights as soon as they are convicted (or in some people's minds charged) for a criminal offence. "They deserve everything that comes to them". "Lock them up & throw away the key". And so on.

I believe we must separate the crime for which this person has been charged from the entirely different matter of someone believing that a commercial software vendor has mis-represented the features of their software.

The only reason to get worked up about this case is because the two people are one & the same. And that is no reason at all.

"Deletion means it's gone. NOT its gone unles someone who is tech savvy is looking for it." - standard Windows/DOS deletion has never meant, or claimed to mean that. Deleted files have always stood a chance of recovery. It's not the hardware or software manufacturer's fault that this user was ignorant.

" take it you mean 'ATF agents' as they are known the world over??? " - and by 'world' over, I take it you mean 'in the USA'.

I really, really don't see how this guy can complain that the basic software he had on his PC failed to cover up his criminal activities adequately. Mind you, more amazing than that was the post defending him!

I smell a troll.......

"Mind you, more amazing than that was the post defending him!"

Really. When was visiting adult sites criminal? Try actually reading the article before acusing someone of being a "troll"

I did read the article and beleive my comments were correct. Your were just baiting.... Whos the troll?

Drivelock's web page says that

"* Encrypt data with state-of-the-art encryption( up to 256-bit encryption strength)

* Choice of industry-standard encryption algorithms (AES, 3DES, Blowfish, etc.)"

http://www.drivelock.com/features.aspx

For the FBI to easily crack this, Drivelock must provide a back door or else have some glaring flaw that is easily exploited as the above levels of encryption with proper password requirements should be effectively unbreakable even by the FBI.

Three possibilities come to mind:

1) The FBI searched his home. Perhaps they found his keys written down somewhere.

2) It's not clear from http://www.drivelock.com/features.aspx whether it encrypts the main drive or not. It could be read to imply only removable drives can be encrypted. In which case, even if his private data is on a removable disk, all sorts of stuff may still be in the swapfile on the main drive, in addition to things stored in the clear in the profile (on the main drive).

3) Even if drivelock can encrypt the main drive, perhaps he hadn't done so. In which case it was only the login authentication details the FBI didn't have (causing them to put the drive in another machine to read it).

It's the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and has been that way for almost 6 years.

Hope the LOSER doesn't win. I'm tired of criminals abusing the legal system to make crime pay. It won't be long before child molesters sue their young victims in court, claiming that young children cause these perverts to commit their crimes. Now days, it seems that criminals have more rights than the law abiding citizen or their victims. When someone commits a crime, they should lose their right to sue anyone !!!!!