Jailed for refusing to tell Police a password

[R1Geezer]

On the front page of the Metro it says that a teenager has been jailed for refusing to reveal a password. Does anyone know the law for this? It's in Scoitland so maybe it's different. It seems to me that you should not be forced to reveal passwords, seems a lttle out of order to sling him in jail. Presumably it's on some sort of "obstruction" charge, any thoughts and opinions on this? Anyone have a detailed understanding of this area? thanks

[DrFilth]

daffy are we on about the same person , he has been found guilty of not giving a password

Man jailed over PC password

By Simon Usborne


Wednesday, 6 October 2010

A teenager who refused to tell police his computer password was jailed for four months.


Oliver Drage, 19, was arrested by officers tackling child sexual exploitation. His computer was seized but it was protected by a 50-character password.

Drage, a fast-food worker, from Freckleton, Lancashire, refused to reveal the encryption key – an offence covered by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Preston Crown Court sentenced him to 16 weeks in a young offenders' institution. Detectives are still trying to crack the code on Drage's computer to examine its contents.

[squarebear]

"officers tackling child sexual exploitation."

They are unlikely to be looking for a few downloaded songs.

[jake-the-peg]

I wouldn't hold my breath expecting the conserverals to roll back this legislation any time soon - I suspect it enjoys considerable cross party support!

As for breaking encryption it all depends on how much time and how much money you have to spend.

It's one thing securing data that needs to be secure from other companies or individuals for a few years.

It's quite another securing data from other interested countries under something like the 30 year rule

[DrFilth]

so without the evidence just find him guilty

[squarebear]

He has already been found guilty of not providing a password.

[DrFilth]

squarebear has he been back to court and found guilty of other charges

[squarebear]

Not according to the article I read.

[DrFilth]

well i am only going off the article from here

[squarebear]

Oliver Drage, 19, of Naze Lane, Freckleton, Lancs, had originally been arrested in May last year by a team of officers from Blackpool tackling child sexual exploitation.

[Mosaic]

Can we focus on the fact that this perv is deliberately withholdng information held on his pc about his perv contacts. Personally I would cheerfully torture him to mak him give the information. But it will be obtained, it's just indicative of his guilt that he's buying time - meanwhle media coverage means his perv contacts can go deeper into cyberspace.

[squarebear]

I agree Mosaic. He obviously thinks that a couple of months in jail is better than what his computer would reveal.

[DrFilth]

if he had some other stuff like bomb making tips and not child stuff and he gave them the password he would still be screwed

[R1Geezer]

I'll keep an eye on it but I'll be surprised if they crack it, if he doesn't tell them presumably they don't have the evidence. Can they just keep asking him and then prosecute for each refusal, effectively jailing him indefinately?

[squarebear]

I hope so.

[daffy654]

I wonder if the contents of his hard drive show him actually participating in the abuse of children, rather than images he has downloaded from elsewhere.? I suppose that would be a good enough reason (to him) to refuse to reveal the password.

On a side note, the young man lives about 10 minutes drive from me. Not often that Freckleton gets in the news.

[Ellipsis]

I would guess that asymmetric encryption is being applied. See:

http://en.wikipedia.o...blic-key_cryptography

The password itself, encrypted or unencrypted, is not stored. That's not to say that the only method of decryption is brute force. E.g.

- He may have written it down somewhere
- It may be based on a favourite phrase or saying or sequence of words
- It could even be based on the sequence of a "random" deck of cards he owned
- He may have kept a copy of it, or something close to it (cut and paste these 50 characters, add this couple, change this couple, remove this couple), somewhere on his computer
- Even stuff like lokking at the wear patterns on his keyboard may help

Remembering 50 completely random characters would be quite a feat, but not impossible. Harder to type it right when all you see is *********************************************
*****
!!!

With a 50 character password he definitely has something to hide. I wonder how they know it's 50 characters. If you ask me, they should lock him up long enough for them to crack it...

[DrFilth]

if they used their loaf they would join this site and ask chuck what to do :)

[ChuckFickens]

surely asymmetric encryption is more used for sending encrypted data between parties as opposed to password protecting local date.

That said, I agree anyone who sets a 50 character password has something to hide and if they have been a little intelligent about doing it then that password is not going to be cracked in a time scale that would be useful to anyone.

[Booldawg]

wouldnt the password just stop them logging onto windows or whatever os he was using. I'm sure theres a very good reason why, but could they examine the contents of his hdd by piggy-backing it off another machine?

[katekoala]

As Mosaic said - the filthy perv has probably been downloading child images that he shouldnt as isnt co-operating ... surely if the Police didnt take this action we would be all over them for not doing anything ?!! If he has nothing to hide - why have a 50 character password, heavily encrypted, and refuses to co-operate .... ??? ..... mmmm stinks to me !