Fergie's Tech Blog

Contested UK Encryption Disclosure Law Takes Effect

Jeremy Kirk writes on InfoWorld:

British law enforcement gained new powers on Monday to compel individuals and businesses to decrypt data wanted by authorities for investigations.

The measure is in the third part of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), legislation passed in 2000 by the U.K. Parliament to give law enforcement new investigation powers with respect to evolving communication technologies.

The government contends law enforcement more frequently encounters encrypted data, which delays investigations. But RIPA Part III wasn't activated when the act was passed due to the less prevalent use of encryption.

But as of Monday, those served with a "Section 49" notice have to either make decryption keys available or put the data in an intelligible form for authorities. Failure to comply could mean a prison sentence of up to two years for cases not involving national security or five years for those that do.

posted by Fergie @ 10/01/2007 10:37:00 AM