[IP] withold password, go to jail

For IP?

"The Register" is reporting that two people in the UK have been convicted
under Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA),
Part III:

Two people have been successfully prosecuted for refusing to provide

authorities with their encryption keys, resulting in landmark convictions

that may have carried jail sentences of up to five years. [...]

Sir Christopher [Rose] reported that all of the [fifteen] section 49

notices served over the year--including the two that resulted in

convictions--were in "counter terrorism, child indecency and domestic

extremism" cases.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/11/ripa_iii_figures/

It may be prudent to follow Bruce Schneier's advice and create a random
key on a USB stick and mail it someone else, so you can honestly say you
don't know the key:

There's another solution, one that works with whole-disk encryption

products like PGP Disk (I'm on PGP's advisory board), TrueCrypt, and

BitLocker: Encrypt the data to a key you don't know.

http://www.schneier.com/essay-279.html

Any legal scholars around? If you don't know the pass phrase to your
encrypted data, but do know where the key file is, can you withhold /that/
information from the police?

When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir pelcgbtencul.

--
David Magda <dmagda at ee.ryerson.ca>
Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under
the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well
under the new. -- Niccolo Machiavelli, _The Prince_, Chapter VI

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