> . Say 5 hour detention then they ask again. Then detention again. Repeat.

Ok, and does this happen in real life?

The answer is no. It does not. In almost any western country in the world, the low paid border security guards are not detaining people in mass for days on end.

This stuff just isn't really happening to any large degree.

You can go to jail for years in the UK for refusing to disclose a password to law enforcement.[0]

[0] https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/09/04/how-refusing-to-...

And how often does that happen, in real life?

The answer is "not that often".

The example you gave was of someone who was suspected of murder.

The amount of people who are in the population of "people suspected of murder, and are jailed for not giving up their password", is a very small population size.

So as long as the government makes a pinky promise to never use their power elsewhere it's okay? Think at least a little about the future. They might be doing it now for a good cause, but how long is that going to last? There's nothing stopping them from jailing anybody who refuses to give up their password, because what's jailable is the act of not giving up your password.

> So as long as the government makes a pinky promise to never use their power elsewhere it's okay?

I never made any claims about what is or it is not OK.

The only claim that I am making is that this whole "XKCD wrench meme" is dumb, and that encryption actually works really well for the vast majority of people in the vast majority of usecases.

That's all. Encryption works, and you are not going to be tortured, or locked up forever, because you refused the order of a low paid border guard.

Such situations are extremely rare, and it is annoying that people keep bringing them up when they basically don't happen to anyone.