Earth: Mostly Harmless

Part 3 of RIPA Act - consultation

August 15, 2006 on 2:09 pm |
Categories: law, copyright and drm, politics, uk
Tags: law, politics, uk

More on the proposed enactment of section 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Looks like some parliamentary types are starting to catch on to the reasoning coming from the computing communities.

“But the draft code of conduct has no guidance on weighing privacy against the demands of law enforcement,” said Caspar Bowden, former head of FIPR.

He questioned how police could balance the rights of victims, suspects and the general public if this was not made explicit.

Mr Bowden also questioned the wisdom of making it an offence to refuse to unscramble evidence. He said there were many scenarios that made it possible for a suspect to deny they ever had the key that unlocked encrypted data.

Already, he said, there had been one court case in which a suspect was acquitted after claiming a computer virus under someone else’s control had caused the offences for which he faced trial. Mr Bowden speculated that other suspects could use the same tactic or would fake a virus infection to get themselves off the hook.

Some fear the powers will stop people taking care with data
He also asked how someone would prove they had genuinely lost or forgotten a password and wondered if the threat of a jail sentence would hamper efforts to make users take more care of personal data.

“Will it deter the mass of honest users from properly securing their data?” said Mr Bowden.

You bet.

BBC story