In Kubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04, PolicyKit Authorizations was removed. With the change in the way removable USB devices are handled, this means that the user/owner of a USB device isn't able to gain access to those devices without root-level access. This wasn't the case in Karmic.

Why was PolicyKit Authorizations removed?

I believe this was due to changes in upstream libpolkit policy. I would suggest filing a critical bug with your distribution, as the system should be automatically configured out of the box to permit devices to be connected, mounted and accessed without issue, including encrypted devices.

Thank you. I'll inform all who are experiencing this problem to do so. I don't seem to be suffering from it, but I've seen quite a few posts in kubuntuforums.net from others who are.

For anyone else coming to this thread with the problem, a bug report has been filed on launchpad.

If you want to read/add to it, it is Bug #575428