
British hacker Lauri Love was back at the Westminster Magistrate Court on July 25th for the final court hearing of his legal fight against extradition to the US. If extradited, he would face a sentence of up to 99 years for having allegedly hacked into the US Army, the US Federal Reserve, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, NASA, and the Missile Defence Agency, as part of the Anonymous-led online protest #OpLastResort.
Love’s trial has raised important questions for the right to privacy in the UK. When he first got arrested, Love was served with Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which allows the police to demand the decryption of a hard drive, under certain circumstances. In order to demand decryption, the police have to prove the defendant can decrypt the requested material, that ordering such decryption is necessary and proportionate, and that there is no other less invasive way to obtain the material. Love had declined to decrypt his hard drive and the National Crime Agency (NCA) did not pursue the case.
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