With the intent to “send a message” to anyone who wants to maintain privacy on their computers, the UK has sent a 16-year-old kid to jail for not giving up his password. Chilly in here? Or is it just the effects of the change of our new privacy climate under the effects of global terrorism warming?
A teenager has been jailed for 16 weeks after he refused to give police the password to his computer.
Oliver Drage, 19, of Liverpool, was arrested in May 2009 by police tackling child sexual exploitation.
Police seized his computer but could not access material on it as it had a 50-character encryption password.
Drage was convicted of failing to disclose an encryption key in September. He was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Monday.
Drage, was arrested when he was living in Freckleton, Lancashire, but later moved to Liverpool.
He was formally asked to disclose his password but failed to do so, which is an offence under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, police said.
Read More: BBC News – Man jailed over computer password refusal.
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