s/forget passphrase for/cause permanent destruction of/ , Re: Letwin wants increased penalties for refusal to decrypt

[Dave Bird]

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In article <Pine.LNX.4.43.0208182221000.391-100000@amaterasu.srvr.nix>,
Kieran <kieran@esperi.demon.co.uk> writes
>On Sun, 18 Aug 2002, Matthew Astley wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Aug 18, 2002 at 08:22:20PM +0100, Peter Fairbrother wrote:
>> > Owen Lewis wrote:
>>
>> > > Letwin should use a better speechwriter.
>> > >
>> > > Fashion it thus.
>> > >
>> > > Plod has (just about) sufficient evidence against X of drug
>> > > trafficking (or whatever gets you 30 years) to get a case before a
>> > > jury. The enciphered contents of X's PC, if disclosed, will turn
>> > > his 50:50 chance in front of a jury into zilch.
>>
>> > [...] Your criminal could defeat conviction by just not writing down
>> > the encrypted information in the first place, or hiding the drive
>> > better.
>>
>> How does encryption of data compare, legally, with irreversible[1]
>> destruction?
>
>Completely different.  You'd have to explain why you encrypted data
>rather than securely deleted it.  The only valid reason IMO is to
>access again.

 This is very naive in security terms.  If you encrypt, your policy
 should be that "I encrypt everything because I have a right to privacy,
 just as I put *ALL* my letters in opaque envelopes: not merely those
 which are of great sensitivity, thus highlighting to be specifically
 targeted."

 Certainly my policy with my circle of regular email correspndents
 is this: EVERYTHING is on auto-encrypt (and you can be sure we have
 directly verified key fingerprints by phone), and the subject line
 is "message", whether it is important or not.

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