Erris's Journal: Animal Rights Activist Faces Jail in 1st RIPA Decrypt Demand

An anonymous animal rights activist, faces jail time if she does not hand over encryption keys to files she claims are not hers. This is the first use of the infamous RIPA laws.

Section Three of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) came into force at the start in October 2007, seven years after the original legislation passed through parliament. Intended primarily to deal with terror suspects, it allows police to demand encryption keys or provide a clear text transcript of encrypted text.

"Now apparently they have found some encrypted files on my computer (which was stolen by police thugs in May this year) which they think they have 'reasonable suspicion' to pry into using the excuse of 'preventing or detecting a crime'," she writes. The woman says that any encrypted data put on the PC must have been put there by somebody else.

I really feel safer with all these great anti-terror laws protecting me from peace protesters and animal rights activists and other political opposition.

'Animal Rights Activists' are terrorists.

[Macthorpe]

I'm not usually one to paint a broad selection of people with one brush, but I would like the kind of people capable of this [bbc.co.uk] locked up for a very, very long time.