Letwin wants increased penalties for refusal to decrypt

[Peter Fairbrother]

> Owen Lewis wrote:
>> [mailto:ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk]On Behalf Of Peter
>> Fairbrother
>>> There is no logic in this. The 'human rights' argument must be
>> that all the
>>> searches described are oppressive
>> 
>> 
>> Not at all. Two different rights are involved, one is the right not to be
>> forced to self-incriminate.
> 
> As said, this is the nub of it. You think that GAK forces self incrimination
> and that is a new oppression. The plain fact is that it is not.

There are two new oppressions, see below.
> 
> Consider, please. The year is 1902. I commit murder and hide the body in a
> cupboard in my house. On suspicion that there has been serious wrong doing,
> a policeman is authorised under due process to search my premises. On
> presenting his authority to me, I say, "Very well, if you must - but you
> can't search the cupboard on the landing 'cos its locked and I won't open
> it, so there!"
> 
> Actually the right to demand and obtain the effective search of persons,
> places and property of all kinds is a lot older than 100 years. It is not
> unique to Britain but exists (AFAIK) in all countries.
> 
> Once more. When the law requires, you *can* be forced to submit to a search,
> even if opening that cupboard is self-incriminatory.

You can't be forced to open the cupboard. Not even in 1902. The Police can
open it against your will, but they can't force you to open it.

> 
> A right not to self-incriminate is conditional not absolute. A 'right' to
> privacy never has and never will be placed absolutely before the right to
> search under due process and upon suspicion. Privacy is, of its essence,
> conditional rather then absolute in its nature.

The right I am talking about is not an absolute right to privacy, but "the
right to attempt privacy. For it to exist there must be a reasonable
expectation that some doable attempt will succeed."

This right (or ability) has been available practically forever. A person can
hide something, and no-one can force him to say where it is. A person can
kepp a secret in his head, and tell no-one of it. That the right is not
enshrined in law is because no-one has thought it necessary to do so (or
perhaps no-one even thought of it as a right).

And it's not just a right, it's a necessity.

-- Peter Fairbrother