A man has been gaoled for refusing to give up the password to his computer.
A teenager has been jailed for 16 weeks after he refused to give police the password to his computer.
Oliver Drage, 19, of Liverpool, was arrested in May 2009 by police tackling child sexual exploitation.
Police seized his computer but could not access material on it as it had a 50-character encryption password.
Because of this, they have convicted him under RIPA and he has gone to chokey for 16 weeks. Now, it’s entirely possible that he is guilty of the offences for which he was being investigated. In that case, saying nothing has got him off lightly, I suspect, despite the police deciding otherwise.
Det Sgt Neil Fowler, of Lancashire police, said: “Drage was previously of good character so the immediate custodial sentence handed down by the judge in this case shows just how seriously the courts take this kind of offence.”
Well, yeah, but maybe he weighed up the odds and decided to take the hit for non-compliance as opposed to providing the Bill with evidence of sexual misdeeds, eh? Or, possibly, he is innocent of any wrongdoing and decided that the police had no business poking about on his hard drive.
I wonder what would happen if they took the hard drive out of the computer and tried to read it remotely? Any system password would be bypassed. Or has Drage been a little more clever than that and encrypted the hard drive? It isn’t clear from the article.
“It sends a robust message out to those intent on trying to mask their online criminal activities that they will be taken before the courts with the ultimate sanction, as in this case, being a custodial sentence.”
But you don’t know if he is trying to mask any online criminal activity as you haven’t accessed his computer. Oh…
“I wonder what would happen if they took the hard drive out of the computer and tried to read it remotely?”
The password is on the system and files; if the files are properly locked down (which I imagine they are), the fuzz wouldn’t be able to read the disk remotely any more than they could when it was in his machine.
DK
Sounds like he’s using 128 bit encryption, plod could try for over a century to try and decode the data without a password. The NSA in the USA could probably do it they have a massive bank of super computers for such things as signal decoding, but probably would refuse a plod request.
Oddly enough I use a similar encryption program for my drives too, can’t be too careful after all.
I doubt if he’s got off yet. He’ll probably be brought back to court until he complies.
I’ve just blogged this myself as it happens. They said he had a 50 character password so I suspect he was using PGP. That encrypts individual files, is impossible to break without the keyword and would work regardless of where they put his hard drive.
Apparently they are still trying to crack it. I wonder what they’ll say if they break the encryption code and discover his late grannies recipie for cookies that he promised not to divulge, ever.
I’m amazed that the copper thinks his logic is sound.
I use PGP on my notebook because l travel as l don’t want to run the risk of having it stolen with all my personal data on.
I also have a totally useless 4 gig memory usb stick because l put a password on it after spending an evening with Jack Daniels. Oops!
l keep trying every now and then but to no avail. l wonder what our thought crime police would think of that?
It also becomes a dangerous weapon that could be used on someone l had a grudge against. Simply hide it in their computer bag, or car or whatever and then do what they are telling us to do all the time … anonymous snitch. Instant prison sentence?
You got it Smoking Hot. Just go find someone to hate.
Weren’t some of these 128 bit encriptions made illegal some years back?
All repeat after me;
If you’ve nothing to hide…….
50 character encryption? Did they check to see if he’s not written it down on a post-it note stuck to his monitor?
Tim, l think they mean passphrase not password.
lt’s prob not even 50 characters and just ‘Police are stupid’ which they’ll never think of!
There are certainly ways around it, e.g. exploding usb sticks.
This is a silly law, worse it is a bad law. It only has coercive power over the innocent!
http://libertarianbulldog.blogspot.com/2010/10/law-that-targets-only-innocent.html
Upon his release, it is anyone’s guess whether the young man is scheduled for a multiple tasering confession or handing over to the Spanish Inquisition for a stretch.
Anyone else read the story this morning about the yob smashing up the town with an axe while drunk and getting a suspended sentence and think ‘If only he’d had a computer with a password he couldn’t remember…’?
The sentencing in this country is utterly barmy!
“if they took the hard drive out of the computer and tried to read it remotely? Any system password would be bypassed.”
Clearly, you have never heard of BitLocker.
I suggest a short course of Google, taken with coffee.
Struggling to get too worked up about this one to be honest.
No, I hadn’t.
It’s a bad law that penalises the innocent.
John Demetriou, a free USB stick is winging it’s way to you now, let me know when it arrives and i shall duly report you for selling kiddy porn on USB sticks.