Court of Appeal orders men to disclose encryption keys

The Court said that there was a balance between the rights of the two men not to incriminate and the needs of society to be protected, and that the systems in place held that balance.

"The material which really matters is lawfully in the hands of the police. Without the key it is unreadable. That is all. The process of making it readable should not alter it other than putting it into an unencrypted and intelligible form that it was in prior to encryption; the material in the possession of the police will simply be revealed for what it is. To enable the otherwise unreadable to be read is a legitimate objective which deals with a recognised problem of encryption."

"Procedural safeguards and limitations on the circumstances in which this notice may be served are addressed in a comprehensive structure, and in relation to any subsequent trial, the powers under section 78 of the 1984 [Police and Criminal Evidence] Act to exclude evidence in relation, first, to the underlying material, second, the key or means of access to it, and third, an individual defendant's knowledge of the key or means of access, remain. Neither the process, nor any subsequent trial can realistically be stigmatised as unfair," said the ruling.

RIPA was changed last year to bring into force the legal requirement for people to divulge encryption keys. It has been opposed by human rights activists and defended by the Government.

Security expert Dr Richard Clayton even told OUT-LAW when the plans to introduce the law were announced that its very introduction could obscure more material from police eyes.

"I think putting the powers on the statute book will make it more, not less, likely that police will encounter encrypted material because people will become aware of dual key systems and see how easy they are to use," he said.