@contrex,
Quote:If the forensic examination proved negative, then possibly he could sue the passenger, the airline, the police, or all three
Not under US law as you can not be sue if you in good faith reported to the police what to you appear to be a crime so that protection cover the passenger and the airline.
As far as suing the police that is as unlikely to work unless you can show they acted in a very very unreasonable manner and not in good faith.
Now they would had a real problem with my notebook as it is protected with 256 AES and no one, once I turn it off, is going to be looking at it without my permission for any reason.
Also unlike a numbers of other countries the fifth amendment to the US constitution is one hell of a legal barrier to being force to turn over the encrypted keys.
Of course the government is trying to bypass that protection and a case is now in court concerning a seized laptop.