Monday was another bad Monday in Octoberian history as various laws were passed that basically erode ones right to privacy. The Telecom data retention legislation was bad enough but the Decryption key powers are now just ridiculous.
On the one hand you have the “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” muppets, on the other you have the “I have a right to privacy” oiks… so what is the problem with having nothing to fear. Fundamentally there are a couple things that are in your favour. Firstly, to obtain a warrant in general, the authorites must provide evidence that they will uncover what they are looking for, i.e. they cannot go on a fishing trip on your hard drive. So, if the warrant says “regarding to terrorism” or “in the interests of national security”, then chances are your paedo porn is actually safe. Also, if they do find your stash, then currently they cannot admit it into evidence as it would be considered an illegal search and seizure.
“But I really forgot the password… Honest”… Really, do you really think that’ll hold up… So, if you forgot your password who accessed the file 3 days ago.
If your porn stash is seriouly that worrying that you are so scared of being caught with it, then you have a choice: 2 years for not handing over your keys, or up to 10 years in Jail. Mind you, using an encrypted disk probably wouldn’t have saved Chris Langham and apparently he knew it was illegal and did it anyway…. still a violent sex offender deserving of 10 years and being branded for the rest of his life…. shame though I liked him as an actor.