Two convicted for refusal to decrypt data

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/11/ripa_iii_figures/

Two convicted for refusal to decrypt data

Up to five years in jail after landmark prosecutions

By Chris Williams b" Get more from this author

Posted in Policing, 11th August 2009 13:17 GMT

Two people have been successfully prosecuted for refusing to provide
authorities with their encryption keys, resulting in landmark convictions
that may have carried jail sentences of up to five years.

The government said today it does not know their fate.

The power to force people to unscramble their data was granted to authorities
in October 2007. Between 1 April, 2008 and 31 March this year the first two
convictions were obtained.

The disclosure was made by Sir Christopher Rose, the government's Chief
Surveillance Commissioner, in his recent annual report.

The former High Court judge did not provide details of the crimes being
investigated in the case of the individuals - who were not necessarily
suspects - nor of the sentences they received.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was unable to track down information on
the legal milestones without the defendants' names.

Failure to comply with a section 49 notice carries a sentence of up to two
years jail plus fines. Failure to comply during a national security
investigation carries up to five years jail.

Sir Christopher reported that all of the 15 section 49 notices served over
the year - including the two that resulted in convictions - were in "counter
terrorism, child indecency and domestic extremism" cases.

The Register has established that the woman served with the first section 49
notice, as part of an animal rights extremism investigation, was not one of
those convicted for failing to comply. She was later convicted and jailed on
blackmail charges.

Of the 15 individuals served, 11 did not comply with the notices. Of the 11,
seven were charged and two convicted. Sir Christopher did not report whether
prosecutions failed or are pending against the five charged but not convicted
in the period covered by his report.

To obtain a section 49 notice, police forces must first apply to the National
Technical Assistance Centre (NTAC). Although its web presence suggests NTAC
is part of the Home Office's Office of Security and Counter Terrorism, it is
in fact located at the government's secretive Cheltenham code breaking
centre, GCHQ.

GCHQ didn't immediately respond to a request for further information on the
convictions. The Home Office said NTAC does not know the outcomes of the
notices it approves.

NTAC approved a total of 26 applications for a section 49 notice during the
period covered by the Chief Surveillance Commissioner's report, which does
not say if any applications were refused. The judicial permission necessary
to serve the notices was then sought in 17 cases. Judges did not refuse
permission in any case.

One police force obtained and served a section 49 notice without NTAC
approval while acting on "incorrect information from the Police National
Legal Database", according to Sir Christopher. The action was dropped before
it reached court.