Leading animal rights activist issued ‘Section 49’ notice
BM | 02.09.2011 22:01 | Animal Liberation
One of the U.K.’s leading animal rights activists has been served a ‘Section 49’ notice in an attempt to force him to reveal the secret encryption code for his laptop computer.
The computer was ceased by police when they raiuided his house after he was arrested for ‘aggravated trasspass’ outside the Harlan UK site in Leicestershire.
The police are beliueved to be interested in the contents of the laptop’s hard-drive because it might reveal the identities of sources within companies involved in testing on animals who have been supplying campaigners with information.
If the activist refuses to reveal the key he could face a five year prison sentence on the basis that he represents a threat to national security.
The police are beliueved to be interested in the contents of the laptop’s hard-drive because it might reveal the identities of sources within companies involved in testing on animals who have been supplying campaigners with information.
If the activist refuses to reveal the key he could face a five year prison sentence on the basis that he represents a threat to national security.
BM
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
true comment
02.09.2011 23:05
anarchist
comply
03.09.2011 10:20
doubtful - if chosen a good length password
However, might as well comply.......
Yes, it may take 5 years to crack your password today.....
But, that same data can probably be cracked in about 2 minutes in 10 years from now......... so you're get done anyway eventually.
As an example........ the German WWII codes were quite hard to crack at the time.
But they could be cracked much faster with a modern desktop computer.
anon
Encryption
03.09.2011 16:58
>GCHQ can crack the encryption if they want to
> doubtful - if chosen a good length password
It's not just length - it's quality as well. Don't just use a long password, make sure your long password has a highly mixed combined of upper & lower case characters, numbers, and other symbols + * ^ = :
And it's also the reliability of the encryption method you use.
>Yes, it may take 5 years to crack your password today.....
>But, that same data can probably be cracked in about 2 minutes in 10 years from now......... so you're get done anyway eventually.
You'll only get done if you fall under the statute of limitations - 10 years is way beyond that for most crimes (e.g. the copper that did for Ian Tomlinson couldn't be prosecuted for assault cos the statue had passed in 6 months).
Also, what's the evidence for saying that data will be unencrypted in 2 mins in 10 years time? Encryption (with strong passwords) currently takes a huge (possibly longer than the time that the universe has existed) amount of time to break. What basis are you saying that it will be 2 minutes in 10 years time?
> As an example........ the German WWII codes were quite hard to crack at the time.
> But they could be cracked much faster with a modern desktop computer.
So what? You're comparing apples with pears. WWII codes were not written using current encryption methods.
Kjy
A leading UK activist.. you're having a laugh!
04.09.2011 21:20
Luke
Amazing
04.09.2011 21:48
You say it is believed that police are doing this to find the sources who have been supplying companies with information, but who believes this? If it doesn't say in the section 49 notice, then you have no idea of why they want to look at your computer, you're just speculating.
And it is a maximum 2 years for section 49, it's only 5 years if it's an investigation involving "National Security". Surely you're not claiming this is the case here, and if so, what do you base this on?
LS