Official Ares Free Download

The UK — official ‘big brother’ nanny state of the world — has recently passed laws that make it a crime to refuse to decrypt data when requested by the authorities, says ArsTechnica. Individuals who are in position of the cryptographic keys required for the decryption process face up to five years in jail if they refuse to assist.

The law also forces individuals to stay quiet about any role they had to play in decrypting data — has your personal data held by your lawyer or banker being decrypted, allowing the police to view all your personal and financial details? You’ll never know unless the police tell you.

The law is covered under Part 3, Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The five-year term only affects cases where terrorism is involved, with other offences resulting in ‘only’ two years in The Big House. The law will apply to data stationed in the UK on UK-based computers or servers; the government cannot intercept any encrypted materials as they traverse the internet via the UK.

The solution to anyone who wants to keep their sensitive data out of the reach of the UK government, then, is to house it outside the government’s jurisdiction, and download it as and when required. This may be the solution for individuals such as international bankers who have a fear of their or their clients’ anonymity being exposed either legitimately or illegitimately by police officials.

It will be interesting to see how much more ‘protection’ the UK government can provide under the auspices of preventing terrorism, of course, before the people smell a rat. This UK citizen notes that the latest twist in this anti-freedom of speech saga has not been picked up by the national media, so will go largely unnoticed.

Related Articles

 Enjoyed this? Subscribe to the feed.