Hi Sean, On Tue, Oct 05, 2010 at 07:26:03PM +0100, Sean Gibbins wrote: > Interesting point: what if I hand over the password and it doesn't work: > oh dear, I must have forgotten it officer! Is it therefore technically > illegal to password protect a system and not keep a copy of the password > /somewhere/ in case the law require me to reveal it at some point?
I think it would be down to whether the judge believed you had honestly forgotten it. Not very good. > Also, what if someone gains physical access to my machine, replaces my > hard drive with an encrypted drive and then falsely accuses me of 'very > bad stuff'? That would put me between a rock and a very hard place the > way I see it. The law pertains to data you have encrypted yourself, so I imagine it would be down to whether the judge believed your story about it not being your hard drive. Again not encouraging. I'm not aware of anyone yet being prosecuted while using an "I've forgotten it" or "it isn't my data" defence. There have only been a handful of prosecutions under the "hand over the keys" provisions of the RIPA. One of the most contentious was the case of a mentally ill individual who refused on principle to decrypt his data even though the data itself was not suspected to be illegal or related to any terrorist activity. He was basically made an example of. He did go to a mental hospital eventually, but he was first jailed for some months for refusing to decrypt his files. > Finally, where does this leave the right to remain silent? Right to silence already doesn't apply in some cases.. I would be more concerned about the impossibility of satisfying your interrogator that you have disclosed all the keys. Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
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