On Fri, 24 Jun 2016, Amir wrote:

> HiddenCrypt allows you to bypass RIPA. It creates hidden volumes that
> forensic analysis cannot see.

this should be corrected with a better wording that you use later:

> "making forensics harder".

it is misleading and therefore dangerous to tell activists that
"forensic analysis cannot see" something, because is not true.

a forensic technique to detect this sort of encryption uses a Shannon
filter for entropy on the block device. You can try it yourself using
the example implementation we have here
http://git.dyne.org/libdisorder/

Shannon filters will highlight the increased entropy of data and can
well distinguish between patterns (for instance between a video and a
LUKS encrypted volume). Arguably, a more sophisticated non-linear
filter can even detect the sort of encryption algorithm used.

of course this sort of analysis has to be made in a lab and by smart
people, a rare asset among policemen. yet I don't believe an arms race
can be won this way. the fight should be political on the fact such an
"emergency policy" is in place for such long time and used beyond the
reasonable context of what is considered "terrorism", to persecute
political activists. without privacy, democracy becomes impossible.

ciao