First Use of RIPA to Demand Encryption Keys

kylehase writes "The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) is being used for the first time to force an animal activist to reveal encryption keys for encrypted files she claims to have no knowledge of. According to the article, she could face up to two years if she doesn't comply."

There is a way of finding out..

[mrbluze]

Put her in a lead vest and throw her into the sea. If she drowns, it means she didn't have the keys, but if she swims, she's a wicked witch and deserves to be punished.

Re:solution

[Anonymous Coward]

that is, of course, assuming that the police forensics team has an ounce of competence.

Re:What if she doesn't actually know?

[Harmonious Botch]

Torture a fish in front of her. She'll talk if she knows the answer.

New Act

[Soporific]

Why don't they just sign the "We'll Do Whatever The Fuck We Want Anytime We Want Act" and just get it over with already?

~S

Re:So lemme get this straight

[SetupWeasel]

Nothing, because the correct answer was "The Aqueduct."

I would have also accepted "Sanitation."

Re:solution

[Nazlfrag]

Just blind them with goatse as the first file, they won't go near the rest.

Re:solution

[Anonymous Coward]

Because private companies are the pinnacle of competence and government is the pit of deepest stupidity.

Let me guess: you're either American, Israeli or Australian.

Re:Better solution

[Opportunist]

I don't know about your world domination plan, but mine contains images, photographs, maps, blueprints and a few more things that cannot really easily be expressed in text.

Re:So lemme get this straight

[Anonymous Coward]

That was before the World Congress enacted copyrights lasting the Author's life, plus two thousand years, you know, just for good measure.

Re:Better solution

[brown-eyed slug]

I don't know about your world domination plan, but mine contains images, photographs, maps, blueprints and a few more things that cannot really easily be expressed in text.

Sounds a lot like my porn collection.

Re:solution

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the rest of the world is smarter and more competent than people from those three countries...

No, but apparently parent's reading comprehension is superior to your own.

Or, to put it a way you might understand: "Whoooosh!"

Re:solution

[Brickwall]

It's piece of mind.

Which piece?

Re:So lemme get this straight

[Nocterro]

My three encrypted volumes contain soft-core porn, business secrets, divorce plans and copyrighted music. Four! My FOUR encrypted volumes contain soft-core porn, business secrets, divorce plans and copyrighted music, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope. Damn. Amongst my encrypted volumes are volumes that contain...

Re:solution

[Thanshin]

I have a few disks that I wiped using cryptologically strong random data. There is no information on them, but I cannot prove that. In fact such a proof is fundamentally impossible in a very strong, mathematical sense.

You should have used a cryptologically strong systematic oven. Then the absence of information would be possible to prove, and such a proof would be fundamentally obvious in a very strong physical sense.

Re:Better solution

[Jim Hall]

One password gives your uber-secret-plans-for-world-conquest, the other password gives a few hundred meg of soft porn (or whatever).

Do you have any example files ... you know, that work well for this? I'm only interested to keep my files safe. And for the articles. :-)

If you must...then enjoy the ride.

[Seraphim_72]

Them: Give us the key or else!
You: Else what?
Them: Else its 2 years in the pen.
You: Eeek! Alright, but it is a very complicated key...
Them: Give us the key!
You: Alright alright, let me at my PC and I will open it.
Them: This is a copy and we are watching.
You: OK, first I need an internet connection.
Them: OK, but don't try anything funny.
You: OK, now I have to play BF2 for two weeks solid, then I got to level a Priest in WoW to 59 and as close to 60 as I can get, lets hope I don't go too far by accident, oh and I will be needing a copy of UT3 as soon as it comes out, and a copy of Crysis I need to work on both those too. But first I need to be in the right frame of mind, so a case of red bull, cheetos, and pizza from flown in hot from Chicago. Oh, and if Ms Sexy-with-a-badge over there isn't doing anything important I could use some *personal* help if you get my meaning. Now lets talk...er...decrypting video cards, I hear the new NVidia one is out and....

Re:TrueCrypt is the best for Windows and Linux.

[spikedvodka]

"Your honor, you see, I have a degree in Mathematics, and in computer science, and I'm trying to develop a very good random number generator [hand over stack of hex codes, on punch cards.] While I do have encryption software on my computer, I only used it to test the system. The large data file you see on my hard drive is exactly that, a large data file. It contains about 2 CPU-hours worth of random numbers as generated by an older version of my algorithm.

Now I understand that this looks suspicious, but mathematically, there is no difference between random numbers and encrypted data. Given enough time, and access to powerful computers, I could design a tool that would convert the random numbers you see there into any given text. From the Magna Carta, to the complete works of shakespear, to your own biography written in klingon.

I wish I could help you, but I'm afraid that mathematically, there is nothing to do."

Re:solution

[camperdave]

Geez! How much trouble do you want to get into?

Re:solution

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm all 3, you insensitive clod!
Seriously, I am.

They're worse than gremlins!

[chefmonkey]

Use them, or loose your case.

And it runs around free! Wreaking havoc! Smashing in windows and stealing car stereos! Eating whole bags of Cheetos and vomiting them up into your dress shoes! I'll tell you -- there's nothing worse than a case that has been loosed upon the world. Those things are wild.

Re:solution

[sacrilicious]

Just blind them with goatse as the first file, they won't go near the rest.

LOL, in my mind I'm hearing a new variation of Thomas Dolby: "She blinded me with goatse..."

Re:solution

[cayenne8]

"For Linux you can just encrypt your swap partition on start up. It creates a random key each time it boots up, so there's no way to recover the data, because the key is lost when you powerdown the machine."

Do you have any links to articles or HOWTO's...on how to do this?

Re:solution

[Anonymous Coward]

I like the idea of having a bunch of the most horrifying porn imaginable, and then naming the files things like "doing-illegal-thing.avi", "me-smoking-crack.avi", and "the-first-time-I-sold-meth-to-a-fourth-grader.mov".