50 characters ? (was RE: Man jailed over computer password refusal

[Nicholas Bohm]

 On 15/10/2010 16:52, John Wilson wrote:
> On 15 October 2010 16:43, Nicholas Bohm <nbohm at ernest.net> wrote:
>> Leo Marks also noted the benefits of keeping secret information recorded on
>> easily destructible media (e.g. silk).  Adopting his procedures, and citing
>> his work, might have helped Mr Drage present a more convincing account.
>
> If I read the specs right this http://yubico.com/home/index/ allows
> have and use a password that you need never know and which can be
> easily destroyed (http://www.yubico.com/developers/static/ seems to
> say that if you press the button for 10 seconds the password is
> replaced by another random one.). The mere possession of one of these
> devices would seem to allow you to plausibly clam that you cannot
> comply with the request to disclose the password.

Maybe, but it's quite likely to be found and seized when the computer is
seized, and the time to destroy your password is after the computer is
seized but before you are served with a s49 notice.  I would think a
discreet piece of paper (e.g. a cigarette paper) might much more easily
be missed on a search - perhaps slipped in the binding of a book, etc.

Nicholas
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