Man jailed over computer password refusal(in the UK)

[tbburg]

'Just came across this:

Man jailed over computer password refusal
excerpt from story:

A teenager has been jailed for 16 weeks after he refused to give police the password to his computer,...

..,Police seized his computer but could not access material on it as it had a 50-character encryption password.

Drage was convicted of failing to disclose an encryption key in September. He was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Monday,..

...,He was formally asked to disclose his password but failed to do so, which is an offence under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, police said.

On the one hand, it was the result of a child porn sting.(I hope there's a special place in hell for child abusers, and think we should be hurrying them on their way - preferably in as painful a manner as possible.)
On the other hand, apparently there isn't enough other evidence to get this guy on any other charge then "failing to allow the police to snoop through your computer"

Thoughts?

 

[kastein]

They should have spent more time on gathering evidence that would prove the content made its way to his PC, rather than assuming they could get it off the PC after seizing it as evidence.

 

[xcm]

another reprocussion of encryption becoming too strong. while i am a privacy fanatic, i understand the governments need to be able to read data... however thats their problem, and they should hire smarter people.

furthermore, if the kid is underage, it shouldnt be possible to convict him of child pornography, he is a child! let him checkout similar aged porn.

no crime here, move along govna.

 

[sam24th]

Im really on the fence about this one. On one hand, I really do think people who are into child pornography should rot in hell. But on the other hand the guy is 19. I mean if he had nude pics of his GF that was 17 years old, it could be considered child pornography. I'll be honest me being a pretty young guy, sometimes cant tell the difference between a 17 and say a 19 year old girl. As far as the password goes, I think they need to hire smarter people to crack it.

 

[crimsondragon]

I get older, they stay the same age.

 

[Shorty]

is that 18, or under 18?

 

[jk333]

I get older, they stay the same age.

alright, alright, alright......

 

[jk333]

Im really on the fence about this one. On one hand, I really do think people who are into child pornography should rot in hell. But on the other hand the guy is 19. I mean if he had nude pics of his GF that was 17 years old, it could be considered child pornography. I'll be honest me being a pretty young guy, sometimes cant tell the difference between a 17 and say a 19 year old girl. As far as the password goes, I think they need to hire smarter people to crack it.

Couldn't agree more. :thumbup: There was a case a while back where a girl posted nude pics of herself on myspace (underage) and got charged with child pornography. All of which I think is absurd. I think that she should have undergone counseling or something of that nature to find out why she was acting out. I think that when you hammer someone like that instead of approaching them with compassion, it makes, not only them hate you but sets a bad example of disciplinary action.

 

[crimsondragon]

O snap!

 

[GrimmJeeper]

tor! :eyes:

kiddie porn is bad, anyone who's into that crap deserves bad things.

I do however find it hilarious that they are charging him with what basically amounts to contempt over not giving up his password. That's why it's there in the first place, to keep data secure.

 

[Darky]

another reprocussion of encryption becoming too strong. while i am a privacy fanatic, i understand the governments need to be able to read data... however thats their problem, and they should hire smarter people.

furthermore, if the kid is underage, it shouldnt be possible to convict him of child pornography, he is a child! let him checkout similar aged porn.

no crime here, move along govna.

I'm with you partway, if it's his girlfriend and he took the pictures. But even then, as soon as they break up, you know he's passing those pics around. However, no matter the age of the viewer, child porn still involves someone (usually older) getting an underage girl (or boy) naked, possibly having sex, and taking pictures. That's wrong no matter what. Girls aren't fully thinking correctly at that age.

 

[xcm]

I'm with you partway, if it's his girlfriend and he took the pictures. But even then, as soon as they break up, you know he's passing those pics around. However, no matter the age of the viewer, child porn still involves someone (usually older) getting an underage girl (or boy) naked, possibly having sex, and taking pictures. That's wrong no matter what. Girls aren't fully thinking correctly at that age.

valid points, and i cant disagree with anything youve said.

im just sayin, sometimes shit's complicated, we dont even know whats on his hard drives at this point.

with all the people stealing identities/data in the last 15 years, we should ENCOURAGE americans to take data security more seriously.

 

[DrMoab]

He wouldn't have gone to jail for 16 weeks over a password unless he had something on his computer that would put him in jail for even longer.

Nothing wrong with strong passwords to protect your data.

If the cops need to look at it and you have nothing to hide than give it up. If you need to hide it than 16 weeks may seem like a good alternative.

 

[Slonopotam]

'Just came across this:
Thoughts?

Obstruction of justice, if they have a court order.

Otherwise nothing, pretty much the same thing as police making you tell something you do not want to.

-- on a later comment, no smart man will help against strong RSA, provided your random number generator is good.

 

[SC Rednek]

I think it would go against the fifth amendment here in America.

 

[XJ Eric]

you may have a point on the 5th amendment thing

 

[tbburg]

Presumably, here in the 'states, IF the police had any kind of evidence, they would take it to a judge, get a warrant, then haul the little bastard before a judge, who would throw him in jail indefinitely for contempt of court until he released the password. That assumes there is any other evidence to prove there may be something on the computer, ie; server download logs or something.

In this case though it seems the English police can charge someone for withholding encryption keys just because they asked for them. Unfortunately the news report is short on details(they usually are,...)

 

[bert01xj]

Does no one in the uk now how to get around the password? i know i can't but at least one of my friends could do it.

 

[RichP]

you may have a point on the 5th amendment thing

I would not put it past the classified sections of the patriot act having a way around the 5th. You know, the sections congress passed even though they were not allowed to read them.

 

[kastein]

Does no one in the uk now how to get around the password? i know i can't but at least one of my friends could do it.

ummmm, depends on the encryption type used. Some types of encryption there really is no way around it, except having a supercomputer well beyond that of any currently built or as I like to call it, "rubber hose cryptanalysis" :roflmao: