Man jailed over computer password refusal

Gary L · 06-10-2010, 00:23

Quote:

Man jailed over computer password refusal

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.

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

Drage, was arrested when he was living in Freckleton, Lancashire, but
later moved to Liverpool.

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.

If he had disclosed the password. I think he may have got a lot longer than 16 weeks. depending on what they found.

how do they know it's a 50 character password?

and if you think about it. unless you disclose your password to personal/private material on your computer. they can only assume the worst. and you not disclosing it so that they can read and view it is a criminal offence.

who makes these laws?

I think the lesson here is. if you have anything on your computer that will get you locked up for a long time. refuse to give them the password. you'll get a lot less longer sentence.

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

speedfreak · 06-10-2010, 00:47

I found it a bit odd. I thought anything could be cracked these days. If the crime would have been terrorist related you'd have thought (hoped) they would have managed to crack it

Gary L · 06-10-2010, 00:49

It's not like it is on the tele. not even with beeping noises either

v0id · 06-10-2010, 00:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary L

It's not like it is on the tele. not even with beeping noises either

Hang on, I'll just make a GUI interface in VB to trace that IP address

Sasha222 · 06-10-2010, 01:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedfreak

I found it a bit odd. I thought anything could be cracked these days. If the crime would have been terrorist related you'd have thought (hoped) they would have managed to crack it

Like you speepyfreak I thought that they would be able to get anything of the hardrive. Strange that they cant crack the password on this one. What happens if they never dont get pass the password?

Do they keep him in jail until they do get past the password and see what exactly he has on his computer?

iFrankie · 06-10-2010, 01:03

He's obviously hiding something on the machine, maybe if they pass it over to the FBI or something.

Gary L · 06-10-2010, 01:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by defirish

Like you speepyfreak I thought that they would be able to get anything of the hardrive. Strange that they cant crack the password on this one. What happens if they never dont get pass the password?

Do they keep him in jail until they do get past the password and see what exactly he has on his computer?

Depends if they can afford the 50 years of compensation they owe him

iFrankie · 06-10-2010, 01:09

Random off topic question, how many laws and regulations are there in the UK?, they seem to have something for everything.

I never even knew they had a "Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000"

Gary L · 06-10-2010, 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by iFrankie

He's obviously hiding something on the machine, maybe if they pass it over to the FBI or something.

You can't assume the worst just because he has it passworded. that would mean child porn goes with encryption. unless it's government. then it's just data.

Officer Smith has a locked draw in his desk. He is obviously trying to hide evidence of corruption. The fact he has curtains in his windows also shows he doesn't want people seeing him beat his wife. He no doubt has vast quantities of child porn as proven by using a password to get into his laptop.

Sasha222 · 06-10-2010, 01:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary L

Depends if they can afford the 50 years of compensation they owe him

Compensation for what. Sorry if I sound a bit dim

Gary L · 06-10-2010, 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by defirish

Compensation for what. Sorry if I sound a bit dim

For keeping him locked up for 50 years for hiding pictures of his wife modelling her new PVC dress and leather boots from them.

Sasha222 · 06-10-2010, 01:19

You got me on that one.

Very good.

SB_07 · 06-10-2010, 01:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by iFrankie

He's obviously hiding something on the machine, maybe if they pass it over to the FBI or something.

The FBI? 0_o

Sasha222 · 06-10-2010, 01:37

The police must have had a tip of that there was something dodgy on his laptop as they dont just go arresting people just for the sake of it. Nothing on the report says what the reason was that brought them to their attention to this guy and his laptop

v0id · 06-10-2010, 01:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary L

You can't assume the worst just because he has it passworded. that would mean child porn goes with encryption. unless it's government. then it's just data.

Officer Smith has a locked draw in his desk. He is obviously trying to hide evidence of corruption. The fact he has curtains in his windows also shows he doesn't want people seeing him beat his wife. He no doubt has vast quantities of child porn as proven by using a password to get into his laptop.

Oh no, if he has curtains he must be a terroroist