Re: [gentoo-user] testing a corrupt SD card

[Stroller <stroller@stellar.eclipse.co.uk>]

On 11 Feb 2009, at 00:54, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> On Fri, 2009-02-06 at 22:21 +0000, Stroller wrote:
>> On 6 Feb 2009, at 05:28, Iain Buchanan wrote:
>>> ...
>>> so I created a file:
>>> dd if=/dev/urandom of=Desktop/random.img bs=1024 count=500960
>>
>> It has just occurred to me:
>>
>> In the UK you can be imprisoned for failing to provide an encryption
>> key corresponding to this file.
>
> are you joking? what's the story there?

It is a facet of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA),  
which was passed in 2000 but which only came into effect just over  
year ago.

     ... 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.
     <http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/01/UK-encryption-disclosure-law-takes-effect_1.html 
 >


Under Part III of the act:

    If any person with the appropriate permission under Schedule
    2 believes, on reasonable grounds ... that a key to the
    protected information is in the possession of any person,
    ... the person with that permission may, by notice to the
    person whom he believes to have possession of the key,
    impose a disclosure requirement in respect of the protected
    information.
    <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000023_en_8#pt3-pb1>

Because the generated file is indistinguishable from an encrypted file  
it may be reasonably be believed to be one. Especially if you are  
charged with a crime &/or use encryption for other purposes.

    In September 2003, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced
    wide-ranging extensions to the list of those entitled to see
    information collected under the RIPA. The list now includes
    jobcentres, local councils, and the Chief Inspector of
    Schools. Civil rights and privacy campaigners have dubbed
    these extensions a "snoopers' charter". At the passing of
    the act only nine organisations (including the police and
    security services) were allowed to invoke it, but as of
    2008, it was 792 organizations (including 474 councils).

    In April 2008, it became known that council officials in
    Dorset put three children and their parents under
    surveillance, governed by RIPA, at home and in their daily
    movements to check whether they lived in a particular school
    catchment area. This was in the context of rules which allow
    people who live in the school catchment area to enjoy
    advantages in obtaining a place at a popular school. The
    same council put fishermen under covert surveillance to
    check for the illegal harvesting of cockles and clams in
    ways that are regulated by RIPA. Other councils in the UK
    have conducted undercover operations regulated by RIPA
    against dog fouling and fly-tipping.
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 
Regulation_of_Investigatory_Powers_Act>

(The cases cited in the last paragraph surely apply to the RIPA's  
regulation of CCTV surveillance, rather than encryption, however I  
thought it relevant to illustrate how wide-ranging the use of this  
"anti-terrorism" act has become).

Stroller.