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Murder Suspect Jailed Over Refusing To Reveal Password In the UK (bbc.co.uk)
A man suspected of murdering a teenager in England has been arrested for failing to hand over his Facebook password to authorities. The BBC reports: Lucy McHugh, 13, was found stabbed to death in woodland last month, a day after she disappeared. Stephen-Alan Nicholson, 24, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an order under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, requiring him to disclose the Facebook password. He was sentenced to 14 months in jail.
He was first arrested on July 27 on suspicion of murder and sexual activity with a child and subsequently bailed. But he was also charged under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The court heard the charge related to a court order that Nicholson disclose his Facebook password protecting any private communications with Lucy McHugh. Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Parker did not accept Nicholson's "wholly inadequate" excuse that providing his password would expose information relating to cannabis.
He was first arrested on July 27 on suspicion of murder and sexual activity with a child and subsequently bailed. But he was also charged under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The court heard the charge related to a court order that Nicholson disclose his Facebook password protecting any private communications with Lucy McHugh. Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Parker did not accept Nicholson's "wholly inadequate" excuse that providing his password would expose information relating to cannabis.
what are the laws in the uk on this?
nothing to see here - move along
If he can easily prove his innocence, and he doesn't, then he is guilty. Oak tree, rope, death. Move on.
He should be allowed to keep his privacy.
Why can't the authorities just ask Facebook for all private communications as part of the investigation? I'm sure Facebook works with authorities on other things. Maybe because the victim was a minor there is some special detail to this case?
To me it makes sense from his part if he did kill her, to take 14 months over however long he might get for murder.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Possession of cannabis is punishable by up to 5 years in the UK.
Instead this kid, guilty of murder or not, only gets 14 months. He's doing the very thing the laws say is smartest to do, and because of it it's possible a murderer may get away with their crime.
He did not get out of the murder charge by refusing to unlock his phone and getting 14 months, Kendall you fucking moron.
This will not be the only time this happens. It will happen more as time goes on and Law Enforcement has to rely upon technology to gather evidence needed to convince a jury of someone's guilt in any matter before a court of law.
In all honesty, you really shouldn't be putting anything you don't want any one in particular to see on the internet. Period. Because this will happen. Best defense against this is just don't put any compromising information on ANY website. Hell, don't put it on any 'device' you own, keep it in your brain.
And if you think this is somehow a problem, that Law Enforcement can do such a thing, let me present this to you: If a suspected murderer was keeping a written diary in his home, under his mattress and Law Enforcement believes it contains incriminating evidence, you can bet your panties there will be a warrant for that diary. Why should technology trump Law Enforcement doing it's job? People have become deluded into thinking 'online' is some sacred untouchable space. It's not.
is a 24 year old contacting a 13 year old on Facebook...?
Wonder why the Facebook chat logs aren't already with law enforcement. Surely, there's a warrant by now.
Does a Facebook user password also encrypt data at rest on Facebook servers? So, unless the user logs in and their password provides the decryption key, not even Facebook can decrypt stored chat history?
Supposedly they use "Signal" protocol, which should prevent this. If they get the logs, then we'll know they either got them from the girl's account, or FB is lying about their Signal implementation.
And the pressure of being forced to produce your password or be put in jail for not producing it only makes it worse so that you can't accurately remember it? While certain types of meds might alleviate some of that if everything goes according to planned expectations, it could just as easily make things even worse.
Memory is a tricky thing sometimes.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Due to all the stress,i dont remember the password.
In what universe does Facebook respect privacy enough to even consider that? Of course they don't do that, in fact they mine the conversations for information about you. Allegedly not for advertising, but for their own use and to enforce rules against abuse definitely.
....that the court didn't make a one time offer to give him an absolute discharge on all cannabis offenses that might be revealed by his Facebook messages, with the warning that if he didn't disclose the password in the light of this offer he would be charged with making a false statement (to a court) which carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment, same as murder.... :)
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
I am *sick to death* of all the failures saing "I have anxiety, boo-hoo". When and where I grew up, if you acted like prey, you were prey. But put on a dress and wear a man's tie and say "I'm gender neutral", and boy, you get to flip from the most hateful things about parents, straight people, and those who actually work for a living to "boo-hoo, I'm triggered, I need to call Antifa to storm the president's office, or better yet slap someone's cell phone out of their hand and run away, boo-hoo!!"
Where did you get the erroneous idea he would get out of murder ? What happens is 1) he is charged with murder 2) but in addition he is now on the hook for 14 month because he does not give his password. In other word, while they are investigating and getting the password from facebook with a court order, he is in prison for not giving up his password. If he get judged for murder , then the sentence would be in addition of that 14 months.
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He gets married. Tells his FB password to his wife, she changes it. she can be forced to testify against him.
Good thing he didn't have a gun! He might have killed someone ... er ... oh.
And the gun would have made a loud noise, so people around are likely too look.
Certainly there is sufficient probable cause to get a warrant for FB to provide all access to that data. It isn't like anyone would put the location of bloody clothes or the location of the murder weapon into FB.
You do not know if he is the murderer. You do not have right nor the competence to judge.
Yet your comment strongly suggests/implies he did it. "Guilty until proven innocent" seems to be your default choice and mindset. Looking for things that back it up, after that decision.
In my country (Germany), know that you could go to prison for publicly implying that he did it!
You're not the judge. Your job is to STFU and let the judge do his job.
(Which the judge of course did badly, since he can just get the data from Facebook. It’s not like they wouldn’t comply, or as if it was end-to-end encrypted.)
This charge just keeps him behind bars, and the public safe temporarily. Just waiting for the REAL evidence......
A more general matter: there might be some wisdom in Robert Smith not ever posting any personal photos or videos, eschewing Friendships with IRL friends and relatives, you get the idea -- good luck establishing he is THE Robert Smith of a case in question. Especially if, dastardly Facebook-law breaker that he is, he lists his name as Lazarus Long, Dick Diver or Robert Axelrod. Yes, Facebook fights this sort of thing but with only partial success. HOW UNHOLY huh, subverting the core essence of Facebook's Business Model?!
You're confusing republic with democracy. These are two separate areas.
Republic vs. monarchy. Democracy vs. autocracy.
Catalin Braescu
Ofaly.com
I'm such a coward that if I was ordered to hand over my password I would - but not before changing it to "thejudgewhoorderedmetodisclosethispasswordisafuckingwanker"
Facebook EULA forbids users giving out their username and password
UK laws are harsh... Even in Russia (which is often criticised) a law provides protecting against self-incrimination. Though other methods are provided I guess.
...trying to access the phone. In fact they said "have at it."
What they objected was having to do the work themselves. Last time we forced people to do work unsolicited, we had a civil war about it. The issue was called slavery, you might want to look it up.
...if a string of text was encrypted or merely random gobbledegook?
In the UK,
Does the Suspect have the right to remain silent?
Does the Suspect have the right refuse to self-incriminate?
Does the suspect have the right to refuse unwarranted search and seizure
of property and personal information?
Are matters of National Security or immediate loss of life or property involved?
It sounds like they caught a killer/rapist and are trying to leverage
a way to destroy citizen rights & protections by making the argument
that those rights & protections are bad because the bad man has them
and bad people shouldn't have rights, so we are going to take them away
from everyone, OK?
It's faster to convict you of failing to incriminate yourself (by revealing your password and thereby potentially incriminating evidence against yourself) than it is to work with a mega-corporation to get what is likely (to said mega-corporation) readily available information.