[YLUG] GPG and the law

[Robert Hulme]

Following on from last nights talk I wanted to bring the Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to everyone's attention.

Essentially the third part of the act says that an 'authorised'
governmental person can ask you for your encryption keys (the
private/secret keys) and that if you don't have them over on request
you go to jail.

I saw a video about this awhile ago that said that even if you don't
have the keys any more and can prove that you destroyed them (e.g.
taping yourself creating the keys, encrypting a file, then destroying
the keys) you will still be sent to jail.

Rather chilling I'd say.

The only good news is that it currently isn't in force although the
government are working to activate that part of the act.

The wikipedia article on this is at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_Investigatory_Powers_Act_2000

There is an organisation against the RIP act at:
http://www.fipr.org/rip/

-Rob

-- 
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"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to
persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan

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