(UK-specific) consultation about RIPA

[Andrew Bunting]

On Sun, Jun 18, 2006 at 09:20:07PM +0100, Adam Funk wrote:
> Part III of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
> established powers to impose a requirement upon a person to put
> protected electronic information into an intelligible form or to
> disclose a key which will enable the data to be put into an
> intelligible form. 

Interestingly there is a provision for a secrecy requirement, 
which makes it an offence for the recipient of a notice to
disclose to others that he has been ordered to reveal a key or
plaintext data.  This is intended to allow covert investigators
to obtain a key and continue to monitor traffic.

However...


``Automatic tipping-off
  ---------------------

  Where a disclosure occurs contrary to a secrecy requirement
  it is a defence for a person to show that the disclosure was 
  automatic and effected entirely by the operational software
  designed to indicate that a key to protect information ceases
  to be secure and they could not reasonably have prevented 
  that taking place, whether after being given the notice or 
  becoming aware of its contents.'' ( para 10.15 pg 52 )

In other words, if the software had a tripwire function that 
notified other nominated individuals when a private key was 
exported then the subject of the notice may not necessarily go 
to jail for ``tipping-off''.

-- 
Andrew Bunting