UK: Teenager jailed for refusing to disclose password

[MikeH]

yeah the more i look at this, the more it looks like the police are trying to protect themselves from bad press.

it makes you wonder though, because there is a very easy way for this guy to clear his name and remove any suspicious regarding child pornography.

His claim is that he forgot his 50 character pass phrase. Now whilst that might sound convenient in this case it sets a worrying precedent. Imagine he, someone, (you?) was playing with an encryption program. Encrypted some stuff on your machine, decided it wasn't worth bothering with, then forgot about it.

At some point a couple of years later someone maliciously accuses you of being into kiddy porn, the police find the encrypted data, but you genuinely can't remember the password. You get 4 months in jail and accused in the national media as being a kiddy pornographer. Even if you subsequently clear yourself this kind of thing sticks with you and can ruin your life. You'll at the very least lose jobs, friends, partners.

In this case, he could be guilty, he could be guilty of hiding something else on his computer, we don't know. The 16 weeks as punishment for the crime he is guilty of is, legally, fair enough. Whether or not that should be a crime is another discussion. You'll notice the Crown Prosecution Service was very clear and careful in its statement not to add any extra detail about that, and didn't when pushed either. I think the police media wing are seriously at fault.

[C0ckney]

as you say we can't be 100% sure what happened in this case. it does seem a bit strange though to go to the trouble of creating a 50 digit encryption code for your data, only to forget it when police want to look at your PC.

i have a few concerns about the law, but then of course if you look at it the other way, what if every child pornographer used one of these encryption codes and then 'forgot' it when the authorities tried to investigate, and got away scot free. i don't think that's a good situation.

but yeah i agree the way the police handled this is a disgrace.

[Asher]

If I saw the kids pic, I could tell you definitively if he had kiddy porn.

Also, is he Catholic?

[C0ckney]

there's a pic in the linked article in the OP.

[MikeH]

Image in OP linked article is a generic prison shot?

this is him

[MikeH]

BTW it could even be old shots of an underage GF he had, as he's only 19.

[C0ckney]

well it could be a lot of things, we're just speculating.

and yeah, the picture was in the press association article linked in the OP. i think my post was a little unclear.

[Dauphin]

I'm leaning towards saying these sentences should be suspended, until the encrypted data has been reviewed. Nothing on there "prima facie" then you probably did forget, if there is something illegal, then you probably didn't forget or were wilfully ignorant.

[Snotty]

Its not like the cops were leaking that a geriatric council tax dodger was also pedo scum. The cops must have had some idea this guy was a kiddy fiddler and thats why they were using such draconic enforcement. They couldnt be so incompetent to point the finger and ruin someones life for nothing, could they? oh....yeah they probably could now i think about it

[Dauphin]

It's not a police set up job. It can't be. He's not black. :shrug:

[MikeH]

I'm leaning towards saying these sentences should be suspended, until the encrypted data has been reviewed. Nothing on there "prima facie" then you probably did forget, if there is something illegal, then you probably didn't forget or were wilfully ignorant.

Well the specific law he was found guilty of and punished for was not giving police his password. So whatever was in the data it's a fair punishment (legally speaking).

[MikeH]

It's not a police set up job. It can't be. He's not black. :shrug:

He might be poor though.

[MikeH]

The point is, no matter what the crime is, no matter how emotive, we are supposed to have a presumption of innocence and we know that making public accusations of crimes of this nature, is a massive punishment whether or not guilt is ever determined.

[Dauphin]

I realise that, but the law is wrong in my opinion.

It was designed for counter terrorism, and has been used for spying on people's rubbish before now.

[Asher]

Image in OP linked article is a generic prison shot?

this is him

Not a child pornographer.