I'm ignorant of the law here: This article starts off saying basically that the FBI agents distracted him long enough to steal his computer and image the hard drive...is that legal? I thought you needed a warrant or something for situations like this?
A legally savvy poster in the original Ars Technica thread says it's allowed if the authorities can claim "exigent circumstances" -- basically meaning that lives were in danger or evidence would have been destroyed if they didn't act fast. Here's more on exigent circumstances via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exigent_circumstance_in_United_...
From what we've been told so far, this sounds like a textbook case of an allowable grab.
They already had a warrant for his arrest, as well as for the computer. They just didn't want him to be able to turn off the computer, encrypt itself, and have it become inaccessible to them.
Imagine if you were the agent who grabbed the laptop, and you accidentally bumped the power button. Or if you were the forensic tech, and you accidentally triggered a reboot of some sort. No pressure!
They just mean they grabbed the laptop off the table before formally arresting him, i.e. they distracted him with a diversion of an argument, another agent grabbed the laptop from the table, and another agent physically detained him and arrested him.
So he couldn't close the laptop and enact the encryption.
Or is it illegal-but-it's-ok-it's-the-FBI-shhhh?