6 ms·

Man jailed over Facebook password refusal

51 points by matthewowen 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
cwkoss 8y ago
kind of silly that the court isn't just asking facebook
- tuckermi 8y ago
  Are you distinguishing the court from the police here? The article states: "Matthew Lawson, prosecuting, said police were following a "lengthy procedure" to get the information from Facebook itself."
- m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
  ...i think the approach is that since he refused to provide a passwd and stymied the investigation, there is now a real basis in law to hold and prosecute him...i.e. put him in jail, with a bunch of others that dont like such ilk...a point of leverage i would think..
  - cwkoss 8y ago
    It's a weird situation because if a facebook engineer reset his password to something else, he'd never be able to get out of jail? Seems odd to make a criminal court order based on a commercial authentication scheme.
    - toyota786 8y ago
      If he forgets the password or it gets magically reset somehow and he legitimately no longer has access to the account (a stretch....password resets are a thing for this reason), then perhaps he should still serve his time anyway as the crime has already been committed. If it was unrecoverable, then of course he'd still be able to get out. It even says in the article he was sentenced to 14 months, not until he gave up the password.
      - m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
        ...hopes are he will believle that giving the psword will get him out of jail...hopes that are fostered by the police lying to him about what will happen... the cops in UK are allowed to lie thier asses off for invetigative purposes....wanna get outta here tomorrow so you dont have to play with your new friends anymore? give us the psword
dragontamer 8y ago
Its important to remember that different countries have different customs, even if we share a language. In the USA, people have the right against self-incrimination, aka the 5th Amendment ("Pleading the Fifth"). I'm not entirely sure if Britain affords the same right to their citizens. Ideally, this kind of article would have some analysis and background for the American audience. Legally understanding the promises our governments make to us citizens is important. Anyway, its clear that self-incrimination is an issue, otherwise this wouldn't be news at all. But I can't help but wonder that my ignorance of British law is making me misunderstand an issue, or otherwise make me biased. In particular, I know that British citizens have a completely different relationship with their Police force compared to US Citizens with our police force. (Ex: British police don't normally carry guns). But I really don't know the full scope of cultural or legal differences that are needed to even understand this short article.
- m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
  britain doesnt have a 5th amendment right... thats one of the reasons there was a little bit of a problem ~ 240 years ago https://www.gov.uk/arrested-your-rights https://www.gov.uk/arrested-your-rights you will be sanctioned for not answering questions and later attempting to use facts related to that question for a defense
  - mlindner 8y ago
    That's pretty disgusting from an American point of view. It's unfortunate that they don't have such rights.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      Well, Americans don't have those rights at the US border[0], so it's not like we're any shining example ourselves. 0. https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017 https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017
      - m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
makecheck 8y ago
It’s bad enough that people have border security, job applications, etc. all depend on access to social media accounts. Yet fake accounts are clearly a thing (I’ve seen two versions of “friends” on Facebook and LinkedIn), and some people have never created accounts on even popular services. What do you do when a guard is screaming at you to unlock an account that isn’t even you? And if you lie and say you don’t have a Facebook account, I bet they aren’t aware of the possibility of fake accounts and simply assume it’s impossible (so what, you miss your flight if you never even had an account, because some scammer made one for you?).
- toyota786 8y ago
  Fake accounts are clearly a thing, you are right, so it seems silly to then assume that the police and justice systems wouldn't be aware of them or assume they were impossible. What do you do in any other scenario where you've apprehended wrongly or are wrongly suspected?

51 points by matthewowen 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

cwkoss 8y ago

kind of silly that the court isn't just asking facebook

tuckermi 8y ago
Are you distinguishing the court from the police here? The article states: "Matthew Lawson, prosecuting, said police were following a "lengthy procedure" to get the information from Facebook itself."
m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
...i think the approach is that since he refused to provide a passwd and stymied the investigation, there is now a real basis in law to hold and prosecute him...i.e. put him in jail, with a bunch of others that dont like such ilk...a point of leverage i would think..
- cwkoss 8y ago
  It's a weird situation because if a facebook engineer reset his password to something else, he'd never be able to get out of jail? Seems odd to make a criminal court order based on a commercial authentication scheme.
  - toyota786 8y ago
    If he forgets the password or it gets magically reset somehow and he legitimately no longer has access to the account (a stretch....password resets are a thing for this reason), then perhaps he should still serve his time anyway as the crime has already been committed. If it was unrecoverable, then of course he'd still be able to get out. It even says in the article he was sentenced to 14 months, not until he gave up the password.
    - m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
      ...hopes are he will believle that giving the psword will get him out of jail...hopes that are fostered by the police lying to him about what will happen... the cops in UK are allowed to lie thier asses off for invetigative purposes....wanna get outta here tomorrow so you dont have to play with your new friends anymore? give us the psword

dragontamer 8y ago

Its important to remember that different countries have different customs, even if we share a language. In the USA, people have the right against self-incrimination, aka the 5th Amendment ("Pleading the Fifth"). I'm not entirely sure if Britain affords the same right to their citizens. Ideally, this kind of article would have some analysis and background for the American audience. Legally understanding the promises our governments make to us citizens is important. Anyway, its clear that self-incrimination is an issue, otherwise this wouldn't be news at all. But I can't help but wonder that my ignorance of British law is making me misunderstand an issue, or otherwise make me biased. In particular, I know that British citizens have a completely different relationship with their Police force compared to US Citizens with our police force. (Ex: British police don't normally carry guns). But I really don't know the full scope of cultural or legal differences that are needed to even understand this short article.

m1573rp34130dy 8y ago
britain doesnt have a 5th amendment right... thats one of the reasons there was a little bit of a problem ~ 240 years ago https://www.gov.uk/arrested-your-rights https://www.gov.uk/arrested-your-rights you will be sanctioned for not answering questions and later attempting to use facts related to that question for a defense
- mlindner 8y ago
  That's pretty disgusting from an American point of view. It's unfortunate that they don't have such rights.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    Well, Americans don't have those rights at the US border[0], so it's not like we're any shining example ourselves. 0. https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017 https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-privacy-us-border-2017
    - m1573rp34130dy 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

makecheck 8y ago

It’s bad enough that people have border security, job applications, etc. all depend on access to social media accounts. Yet fake accounts are clearly a thing (I’ve seen two versions of “friends” on Facebook and LinkedIn), and some people have never created accounts on even popular services. What do you do when a guard is screaming at you to unlock an account that isn’t even you? And if you lie and say you don’t have a Facebook account, I bet they aren’t aware of the possibility of fake accounts and simply assume it’s impossible (so what, you miss your flight if you never even had an account, because some scammer made one for you?).

toyota786 8y ago
Fake accounts are clearly a thing, you are right, so it seems silly to then assume that the police and justice systems wouldn't be aware of them or assume they were impossible. What do you do in any other scenario where you've apprehended wrongly or are wrongly suspected?