According to Falkvinge, under UK law, a person can be sent to jail for refusing to give up encryption keys, regardless of whether you have them or not.<\/p>\n
Falkvinge goes on to paint a dire picture of how a person can get five years in prison if it\u2019s a terrorism or child porn investigation, and two years otherwise, just for having files the authorities think are encrypted.<\/p>\n
South Africa has similar key disclosure laws, but according to Michalson, you must have or had possession of the decryption key before you\u2019ll face a fine (up to R2m) or prison (for up to 10 years).<\/p>\n
![\"Lance](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Lance-Michalson-portrait.jpg\" "\\"Lance")
Lance Michalson<\/p><\/div>\n
Michalson said that government has the dual-responsibility of promoting and facilitating the lawful use encryption by business and others, while making it as difficult as possible for criminals to exploit it for their own purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigations into criminal offences are often hampered by the discovery that material that might otherwise assist the investigation, or be used in evidence, has been encrypted,\u201d Michalson wrote in an article<\/a> on the firm\u2019s website.<\/p>\n It is occasionally possible for law enforcement agencies to crack the encryption key, Michalson said, though this comes at considerable effort and expense.<\/p>\n This is also likely to become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, as technology develops, Michalson said.<\/p>\n Michalson explained that under RICA, one must apply to a judge for a \u201cdecryption direction\u201d, in terms of which the holder of an encryption key is directed to disclose that key or provide decryption assistance in respect of encrypted information.<\/p>\n However, to get the direction in the first place, Michalson said that you have to produce sufficient evidence to the judge that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the decryption key holder is in possession of the encrypted information and the decryption key.<\/p>\n Law enforcement should (in theory) be able to identify the holder of the key if their details as a supplier of crypto software have been entered in the Department of Communications\u2019 register of crypto suppliers. This is the link with the crypto registration provisions in the ECT Act<\/a>, Michalson explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many instances, in practice, however, the supplier will not be able to provide the identity of the user of the crypto software,\u201d Michalson said.<\/p>\n Strong encryption in SA: is it legal?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Hackers see unprotected data as fair game<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nRelated articles<\/h3>\n