UK Law Enforcement Told Miranda He'd Go To Jail If He Didn't Reveal His Email, Social Media Passwords
from the shameful dept
It's already pretty damn clear that the UK government had no legitimate "terrorist threat" when it detained Glenn Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, for almost nine hours (the legal limit without an arrest) under an anti-terrorism law. Now, Miranda has also revealed that his interrogators told him they would lock him up in jail if he didn't reveal the passwords to his email and social media accounts.Mr Miranda told the BBC he was forced to disclose his social media passwords.It's difficult to see how this was meant as anything other than an intimidation tactic against Greenwald, and as a weak attempt to try to uncover what Greenwald is working on by getting his partner's passwords. It seems unlikely, given Greenwald's crash course in encryption and government spying, that Miranda's passwords would be helpful in any way. So, instead, it's just more bullying. There was simply no basis to throw Miranda in jail, and yet UK law enforcement intimidated him with such threats to get him to cough up his passwords. Just incredibly shameful.
"I am very angry. This feeling of invasion. It's like I'm naked in front of a crowd," he said. "They said I had to co-operate or else I was going to jail."
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Filed Under: david miranda, email, glenn greenwald, passwords, social media, uk
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Appalling behaviour.
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To be clear the law is poorly conceived, constructed, and practiced. At the same time if it didn't exist law enforcement would have cooked up some other pretext to hold him at the border IMO. The true issue is that it's way to easy for the executive branch in many western governments to cook up just enough of a pretext that they can avoid practically all consequences when they abuse their authority.
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Shame this doesn't happen in the US system.
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It'll be some junior undersecretary or similiar
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Re:" A good old fashion spy scandle..."
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1. A way to put your account in "away" mode, such that no logging-in is possible for a certain period of time, or after a number of verification steps that involve more than just a password (similar to what facebook already does when you log-in from a foreign location).
2. A way to lock your account to a certain computer or location, or the availability of a certain file.
3. A separate distress password, that would put your account in a special state, such that certain information would be withheld or falsified, and information of people using that account will be tracked in more detail, and made available to the account holder; and finally, that any changes made using the distress password can be reverted in an easy way. Locations that use such distress passwords regularly should be tracked and logged more intensively. (The number of distress passwords should be unlimited, such that it is not possible to demand both the real and the distress password, and distinguish the two)
Note that these types of precautions also helps against criminal and school type of bullying, it is best to justify them for this purpose.
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That way should they ask, you can honestly say that you have no email or social media account(s), and you have no idea what the passwords could be. Then when you reach your destination, you friend hands the accounts back to you.
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RIP Act
Also not knowing the passwords is not a defence. You have to prove you don't know the password or you are just as guilty.
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This was Bruce Schneier's advice.
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Greater Manchester Police has a handy Q&A for people who they detain under schedule 7 which you can see here:
http://www.gmp.police.uk/content/section.html?readform&s=379DB3B5D26A772080257A5C0048ABC1
The relevant bit is:
Q: What is my right to legal advice?
A: You can request legal advice at your own expense. Your examination will not be delayed pending the arrival of a solicitor and your failure to answer questions may constitute an offence. If you are formally detained under Schedule 7 powers, your rights will be explained to you.
Essentially, not answering questions asked, including ones like "What is your password?" opens you up to prosecution under schedule 7 and they don't have to wait for your lawyer to turn up. If you're "merely" being "detained" under schedule 7 you have less rights than someone under arrest or essentially at any other time you interact with Police.
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Essentially, not answering questions asked, including ones like "What is your password?" opens you up to prosecution under schedule 7 and they don't have to wait for your lawyer to turn up. If you're "merely" being "detained" under schedule 7 you have less rights than someone under arrest or essentially at any other time you interact with Police.
As Chief Miles O'Brien would say, "Bloody Cardassians!"
Cardassians - The Justice System
When a suspect is arrested he is told, "You have the right to refuse to answer questions although such a refusal may be construed as a sign of guilt." A suspect may be interrogated or tortured to establish his guilt. Once a convincing case has been made against the suspect, he is imprisoned to await trial. He is no longer considered a suspect; he is now an offender.
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I'm surprised they even let you have a lawyer at that point, as it's pretty damn obvious the whole point is to force people to talk without knowing what little rights they are allowed in situations like that.
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Make your password something like 'gof**kyourself' or 'snortmytaint' (couldn't resist Ken epic phrase). When they ask for your passwords tell them, just don't say 'no spaces'.
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It's reallly stupid
I don't know of any judges in any court who are so dense as to approve this kind of heavy-handed intimidation.
But that won't stop the government from having thugs do it, unless it becomes prohibitively expensive to defend every single case.
I bet they hope that they get off with a few million pounds and a tongue lashing, even though an awful lot of people should get fired.
If Miranda does get the stuff back, he should wipe the hard drive and make sure his passwords are changed-or just throw it all away, because I wouldn't trust the thugs not to be above putting 'stuff' in his computer. More intimidation, you know.
Good thing computers are cheap nowadays.
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Re: It's reallly stupid
If the US and UK governments thought that they had a ghost of a chance of stopping Snowden's leaks by having a 'what ever it takes' extermination squad in operating in full kill mode in the middle of London's Piccalilli Circle Sunday at high noon there would be no holding either government back.
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Re: It's reallly stupid
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If they had sent him to jail he would no longer be at the "Port" and would have had to be afforded his full rights under British Law.
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http://www.groklaw.net/
Since Snowden's revelations and stand for integrity in lieu of a totalitarian world the hate bastards at NSA have been going bonkers with an all attempt to stop the leaks and preserve their big brother empire.
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I tend to think the person who ran the site used the NSA revelations as an excuse to quickly shut down without exploring other more secure alternatives to email.
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Once again the UK is nothing more than the US lapdog
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David Miranda injunction
BarnDoor gazes forlornly as Horse gallops into the sunset.
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Given how loose the definition of national security, that's quite an exception.
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Why do they need passwords?
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Security Theater
But it's not a waste of time if the Security-Industrial Complex wants to just be visible. They know that there's no such thing as bad publicity.
The mistake is thinking that the goal is anti-terrorism, when it's simply a matter of rent-seeking.
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David Miranda data thoughts
Some obvious questions:
Are the police / their QC / Theresa May lying? (she's a politician)
Did Miranda have the password(s) for whatever he was carrying? (seems odd)
Did they break the encryption? (seems unlikely)
Was the encryption applied incorrectly? (possible, i guess)
Did Snowden also download UK documents? (that would be new)
Does the UK consider US classification as their own? (poodle?)
Did someone else leak UK stuff? (that would be big news)
Does this whole thing pass the bullshit test? (not yet)
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> cooperation and data sharing we've seen out
> of the NSA and the GCHQ
National security intel has always been freely shared-- even at the highest classification level-- among what are known as the Five Eyes: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
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A reason to avoid visiting or passing through the UK
If you have a github account, for instance, someone with the password can post backdoored code under your name. Trust is a very important currency, and having your account compromised breaks the social contract underpinning that trust.
Even being able to read your email account is very dangerous. The email account is nowadays used as the authentication method for password resets of other accounts, so someone who gets even read-only access to your email account can force a password reset and steal access to other accounts.
So, unless you can ask a friend to change and hold for you the password of all online systems you use while you travel, which can be dozens of different systems each one with its own separate password management, visiting or passing through a country with a key disclosure law is a danger.
A password is not just a key opening a safe. A password is a way of proving your identity. Giving someone your password is not merely allowing access, it is allowing someone to take your place, and abuse and ruin any trust you have earned. An account is not an object like a book; it is part of your self, part of your life.
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RIP Act
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