A UK teenager, under suspicion by police countering online child sexual abuse
and exploitation, has been jailed for 16 weeks for not disclosing his password
to investigators.


Security Laws vspace=3 align=right src="http://it-toolkits.com/images/Securitymanual.gif"
longDesc="Security Manual Template - Sarbanes-Oxley">Police were unable to
crack the password, thought to be of a 50 characters which even after the
conviction they still cannot access.


Unlike the US which has seemingly combined a number of existing acts of law
into one giant, consolidated act like the Patriot Act, the UK still has many
acts which focus on various elements of crime and often overlap.


The 2004 Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPA) Act is a broad ranging set
of laws which authorise the interception of communications, surveillance either
direct, covert or intrusive, and the access to data which broadly covers online
activity by a broad range of UK public bodies and organisations. It’s one of the
most powerful acts of law we have in the UK.


Part III(53) makes it an offence to hinder a criminal investigation by not
disclosing a password to an encryption method, which may or may not uncover
evidence to incriminate the subject. In effect, passwords in the eyes of the UK
law are useless because if law enforcement want to see something but can’t, the
law can be further used against you.

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