Posted by del.icio.us bot at October 17th, 2008

  • Defendants can't deny police an encryption key because of fears the data it unlocks will incriminate them, a British appeals court has ruled.

    The case marked an interesting challenge to the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which in part compels someone served under the act to divulge an encryption key used to scramble data on a PC's hard drive.

    Failure to do so could mean a two-year prison sentence or up to five years if the case involves national security.