Letwin wants increased penalties for refusal to decrypt

[michael (ukcrypto list)]

On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Richard Clayton wrote:

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2196734.stm
> 
> This is a piece about Oliver Letwin (shadow Home Secretary) calling for
> "grooming" (that's what you and I used to call seduction, but it's much
> more scary if there's a new word for it) to be made illegal.
> 
> However buried away in the middle is the single sentence:
> 
>         He also wants increased penalties for paedophiles who refuse to
>         unlock encrypted information being stored on the internet.
> 
> Since we still don't have Part III of RIP 2000 in force yet I'm unclear
> what sort of increase this would be... but presumably the idea is that
> you'd get more than the 2 years maximum of s53(5) if the information you
> refused to decrypt was said to be illegal images of children.

 
> Quite how anyone knows that they're illegal images of children if you
> refuse to decrypt them (or why they need to be decrypted if people know
> what they are) is one of those philosophical puzzles that so bedevil
> proposals to fiddle around with penalty levels.


Letwin is so narrow-minded.  Why stifle the scope of a new law by
restricting it to paedophiles who refuse to decrypt? His proposals 
should encompass all non-decrypting law-breakers.

"The penalty [for failing to decrypt]", states Letwin,
should be "as serious as the encrypted material".

"Imagining" the demise of Brenda, any one?

Accuse them of that and they'll soon remember their bloody passphrases.



BBC Radio 4 Today Programme
Friday 16th August 2002
 
"The Conservatives reveal their plans to combat
the internet paedophiles."
 
07m14s into the 07m41s story..
 
Oliver Letwin:  [..]
 
                "At the moment, if encrypted material
                is discovered and the person who
                is held to be responsible for the
                encryption won't hand over the key,
                that's also not something that
                attracts a penalty as great as the
                material could attract.
 
                We want to provide a penalty which
                as serious as the encrypted material."
 
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin//radio4/today/listen/audiosearch.pl?ProgID=1029482141