People involved in child pornography could be required to provide encryption keys

[TheMatrix]

Source (http://www.nu.nl/internet/2926002/mogelijk-ontsleutelplicht-in-nederland.html)
It's in Dutch, but I'll give you the translation, although it may not make sense in some places. Run it through a translator to see it differently, although the grammar is usually rather awful.


AMSTERDAM - There will probably be an attempt to decrypt things in the Netherlands. Criminals must be forced to hand over their encryption keys to authourities.

That's what Minister Opstelten(Safety in Justice) wrote in a letter to the House of Commons.

As an example, he named child pornography cases where evidence resides on PCs, but is not available to police. Opstelten is currently investigating the pros and cons of the so-called decryption attempt.

The investigation is almost complete, and according to Opstelten, this decryption attempt is not in agreement with the right to silence -- that the accused does not have to avtively give or make available self-incriminating evidence.

On top of that, the minister thinks that making this mandatory decryption of files can be effective, "provided there is adequate regulation and proceeded with in care"

Possibilities

"In the following months, it will be researched which concrete possibilities the result of this investigation will provide for the leadership and enforcement laws", writes Opstelten. He emphasises that this decryption attempt will not always be the best solution. "This regulation must be carried out in accordance with all other regulations and provisions".


What do you think? I'll post my opinion after a couple of posts.

(Update: Typo in the title, fixed that)

[Mortal Coil]

Personally I think that the encryption key thing should become a law. While the article states that it would violate the right to silence, I also think that not giving the police access is a form of obstruction of justice.
But that's just my opinion.

[Infidelitas]

If you have something to hide, you will obviously not give it to them, but I think because it's something illegal, the police should have automatic rights to them.

[Korashk]

Completely violates the principle of self incrimination. Why not just force the accused to testify against himself if you're so sure he's guilty? Makes it easier for police since they don't have to prove as much.

[Magus]

Completely violates the principle of self incrimination. Why not just force the accused to testify against himself if you're so sure he's guilty? Makes it easier for police since they don't have to prove as much.

The whole deal is to avoid coercing the criminal into admitting. They need evidence, and they need it now.

[TheMatrix]

I think that it depends. The accused should only be forced to give encryption keys if there is a unanimous decision by the jury to do so, in my opinion.

[HunterSteele]

It doesn't matter if the law requires the accused to "provide" the key. Even if it did, the time they'd get in prison for not giving them they key is a drop in the bucket compared to what they'd get if they did give them the key and the police had access to the data.

All they're doing is reminding more people to use encryption.