Hansard: Written Answer: at least 8 RIPA part III section 49 notices since last October

[Nicholas Bohm]

Dan Beale-Cocks wrote:
> Watching Them, Watching Us wrote:
> 
>>  (2) how many prosecutions and convictions there have been under the
>>  Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 for withholding passwords
>>  and encryption keys to hard drives since that provision entered into
>>  force. [200588]
> 
> Thanks for the numbers.  I thought -bicbw- that they could also just use 
> contempt laws if people aren't disclosing keys.  Is that true, and if it 
> is are there any numbers to compare?

I don't think there's any overlap.  It cannot be contempt of court to 
withhold keys (or decrypted data) from the police or most other 
investigative or enforcement agencies, which is why RIPA is thought 
necessary.  In the case of witnesses required to produce documents or 
things containing them, and in the case of disclosure obligations in 
civil proceedings, where RIPA does not apply to compel anything, 
punishment of disobedience to the court as a contempt is an available 
sanction.

There won't be any numbers for cases where the threat produces 
obedience; there might be for cases where a contempt has been punished, 
but I don't know where you'd look for these, and they would probably not 
be broken down into different reasons for the finding of contempt.

Nicholas
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