TLDW: Appelbaum believes it's better to defend your fifth amendment right than to lie (EFF agrees, Assange doesn't). And in areas of zero freedom, it's better to have the ability to give up your password (plausible confession -- my term) than to have the adversary believe that there's a hidden volume they haven't beat out of you yet.

There's more to this long running debate, but that's the gist of Appelbaum's position.

My take: Plausible deniability gives you the option to defend the fifth, lie, or give up your data, but your confession may never be plausible. Which is better depends on the sensitivity of your data and the willingness of your adversary.

> . And in torture friendly areas, it's better to have the option to give up your password and be killed quickly than to have the adversary believe that there's a hidden volume they haven't beat out of you yet.

How will giving up the password ensure there isn't 'another' hidden volume?

how does this change if you're not american (no fifth, presumably)? or entering the uk (where not giving up the password is a crime)?

To call this a "a very very long video about "why you shouldn't use TrueCrypt hidden volumes"" is not accurate and does not do justice to a very interesting talk.

First, Part 1 is only 1 hour and 17 minutes long (though perhaps it felt much longer to you).

Second, while the subject of TrueCrypt comes up a couple of times in the Q&A period, it's not the main subject of the talk. The talk is about privacy, anonymity, surveillance, and what can be done about them.

I highly recommend watching this video, especially for people who might not be up to date on all the latest privacy-enhancing technology or who might not be very aware of how much digital surveillance there is these days. Even if you do know about these things, it's still interesting to hear an intelligent, articulate presentation about them.

> First, Part 1 is only 1 hour and 17 minutes long

There is no such thing IMO as only 1:17 when referring to a presentation/talk. I tune out after about 10 minutes, 15 or so tops (e.g. for the git imerge discussion).

Anything that is so complicated that it requires that much exposition is something that I will read about or probably not find out at all.

I agree - the article refers to it as such (or rather, says "if you want to know why you shouldn't use hidden volumes, watch this", which is crazy - I sat through an hour of obvious stuff for the one argument I wanted to hear! :/