16 weeks for not handing over a password

[paddyhasneeds]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11479831

Seems he may have got off very lightly compared to if the actual content had been what it sound like they suspected it was.

[Badgerboy]

Youth offender though, so likely a lighter sentence than normal.

If prosecuted under RIPA, you can get 5 years. You'd have to be habouring some pretty bad stuff to not cough to it in that event.

[paddyhasneeds]

Badgerboy said:

Youth offender though, so likely a lighter sentence than normal.

At 19?

[Victor McDade]

Beeb said:

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

Surely in this day and age there is no such thing as an uncrackable password?

[elster]

Badgerboy said:

You'd have to be habouring some pretty bad stuff to not cough to it in that event.

Not necessarily, I know a few nerds who would rather go to prison than hand over their password. Even if nothing on there.

[Parrot of Doom]

Victor McDade said:

Beeb said:

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

Surely in this day and age there is no such thing as an uncrackable password?

You're joking, right?

[elster]

Parrot of Doom said:

Victor McDade said:

Beeb said:

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

Surely in this day and age there is no such thing as an uncrackable password?

You're joking, right?

He is right though, there is no such thing. It might take more than their lifetimes, but doable.

[randlemarcus]

Parrot of Doom said:

Victor McDade said:

Beeb said:

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

Surely in this day and age there is no such thing as an uncrackable password?

You're joking, right?

Probably confused between the password of fifty characters and the 2048 bit encryption the little sod had on there.

[paddyhasneeds]

Victor McDade said:

Beeb said:

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

Surely in this day and age there is no such thing as an uncrackable password?

Set GCHQ or some seriously heavy people on it and you're right, short of that though, once you get into AES encryption and stuff that is way over my head, it can pretty safely be treated as uncrackable (for now).

[RDMcG]

Interesting..you can be compelled to self-incriminate in the UK?......

[randlemarcus]

RDMcG said:

Interesting..you can be compelled to self-incriminate in the UK?......

Seems to follow the pattern of failure to provide a specimen, or not filling in the s.172. Refuse to co-operate and we'll nick you for being difficult

[Olivera]

Does anyone else fine it very worrying that you can get 3 months in jail for failing to disclose a password? This is similar to a NIP for speeding: failing to disclose the password, ergo who was driving, is a crime in itself.

[dundarach]

nothing to hide - nothing to fear - end

[manic47]

paddyhasneeds said:

Badgerboy said:

Youth offender though, so likely a lighter sentence than normal.

At 19?

Indeed, young offenders are up to 21.
Below 18 are juvenile.

I've spent a while working in a YOI, that was a fairly eye-opening experience.

Edited by manic47 on Tuesday 5th October 20:52

[Badgerboy]

paddyhasneeds said:

Badgerboy said:

Youth offender though, so likely a lighter sentence than normal.

At 19?

Think the caption mentioned he had to serve the sentence at a Young Offenders institute. I likely inferred it from that.

[AndrewW-G]

dundarach said:

nothing to hide - nothing to fear - end

In theory possibly, in practice however, it’s a saying often spouted by the power hungry lunatics, behind the worlds worst atrocities (Hitler/Stalin/Blair etc)

[SplatSpeed]

randlemarcus said:

RDMcG said:

Interesting..you can be compelled to self-incriminate in the UK?......

Seems to follow the pattern of failure to provide a specimen, or not filling in the s.172. Refuse to co-operate and we'll nick you for being difficult

reminds me why i left

[Flintstone]

I dislike the heavy hand however look again at what they were investigating, sexual exploitation of children. I can't see how anyone with nothing to hide would hinder such an investigation.

[toast boy]

Am I dense/technically inept/missing something? Is there no other way to find out what is on his computer without the password? Or is it sloppy journalism and the fact that the files are encrypted?

Edit: yes I am dense and didn't read the article! Can someone in that case explain briefly how encryption works? Does it effectively scramble the contents of the hard drive irretrievably without the password?

Edited by toast boy on Tuesday 5th October 21:19

[tinman0]

no finess. all they needed was a keyboard sniffer and job done. (get a court order to enter his house and place one), and you'd have the password. equally, drill a hole in his ceiling over his desk whilst he's out, and again, job done.