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French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

theguardian.com

131–140 of 241 posts

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#131
post #67

According to this tweet[0] citing a (locked) article, the arrested publisher was asked by police "Do you support president Macron? Have you participated in the recent demonstrations in France? What books will soon be published by La Fabrique?". Scary stuff [0] https://twitter.com/Mathieu2jean/status/1648394577449984014

The proper personal data hygiene tips are: 0. Never take your primary personal or work cell phone to any demonstration 1. Cover your face, if you can, or wear anti-facial recognition makeup 2. Do not use social media from primary personal devices 3. Anyone intent on trying to join the cause is a cop. Until proven otherwise, anyone you meet is a cop 4. The standard response to any official questions in the future is t…

The kicker being, there is actually a 6th critical tip:

5. record your interactions with anyone around you, specially cops

The number 0 point (not bringing your cell phone) makes it pretty difficult, so you need an everyday phone, and a dedicated "demonstration" phone.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stress of being arrested and threatened with years in prison if you don't remember your passcode could very well cause someone to forget it.

A few weeks ago my house sprang a massive leak in the roof during a rainstorm, just as I was preparing for a week-long business trip. I got so stressed, the next morning I forgot the passcode I'd been typing into my iPhone for the last five years. Three days of carefully writing down my attempts didn't work—I hit the ten-mistake limit and the phone auto-wiped.

Something similar happened to me (though I did eventually remember). Now I always save PINs and passcodes in a password manager

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#133
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a fan of the RIP Act (and there's plenty more badness in there) but playing devil's advocate, without this specific offence the disclosure sections would be completely ineffectual (remember the UK also allows adverse inferences to be made from silence, it is not the US)

If you can't remain silent then what are you supposed to do to not accidentally incriminate yourself?

You say nothing about the alleged crime and instead ask for an attorney.

Remember this important advice—shut the fuck up. https://youtu.be/sgWHrkDX35o

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#134
post #86

did the french government put that guy on a terrorist list somewhere or what? also, the refusal to share passcodes and subsequent arrest is more common across the world then one would expect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law in countries such as France, Australia, UK, Ireland, India, South Africa it’s pretty clear: refuse to give password > fine and/or jail. in other countries such as the US, Nether…

> the few arab countries i’ve visited I would expect citizens of Arab countries are treated very differently from visitors .

In which direction? Some countries are more suspicious of outsiders and give their citizens an easier time. Other countries are more fearful of the threat within and couldn’t care less what some random tourist is doing.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#135
The protest in France against Macron's raising of the retirement age was a principled act of dissent, and there is no evidence that participating in it suggests any plans for terrorism on British soil. Therefore, it is a violation of those principles for the British police to ask a French woman to show them the contents of her phone or computer simply because she attended the protest.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#136

Couldn't you have a max attempt lockout set pretty low and keep giving a slightly wrong variation? I mean if you dont remember, you don't remember Both my laptops and phone I need to be the one actually typing or inputting the code, I know them through muscle memory and get tripped up those few times my laptop ask for my iphone pass code, as an example

According to https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/20... point 59, it's legal for UK authorities to get information from electronic devices, and the device owner must unlock the device for the authorities. So, in the context of this UK-focused article, you're giving people advice on how to evade a search that, in the UK, is legal. Instead, I would suggest advocating for UK people and businesses to…

There’s no way the law will be changed. Both major parties support it and have done for decades. Fear and being tough wins votes, and even if it didn’t, what’s the point of being in power if you can’t jail a few dissidents?

The only thing that politicians are afraid of is the media, and British people are sheep who follow the prevailing media narrative. If you want to change the law in Britain: buy a newspaper publisher.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#137
I've always felt nervous travelling through the UK, as it always seemed to me to be a place where freedoms are still unsecured, and somehow at the whims of the king (though now the king is replaced by a not-very-representative democracy).

I hope this continues to erode the standing of the UK as a travel destination.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#138
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If concerned about privacy/security during international travel, a good option is to get a burner phone. A cheap android phone is peanuts.

Give it time. One day people will be arrested at borders for "suspicion that they are travelling with a decoy phone".

“Not having a smart phone” already is a warning sign in some countries.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#139
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the reasons why other countries outside the US aren't as free as the US, even though the US is a complete mess too in different ways. Freedom of both speech and silence are not really respected in law anywhere outside the US to the extent that they are in the US.

Many many countries have rules against drawing adverse inferences from silence, including event Scotland, which is part of the UK.

Scotland really should leave the UK, and then rejoin the EU. They'd be better off.

Re: French publisher arrested in London for refusal to tell police his passcodes

#140
post #66
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ironically, this was largely done by self-declared leftists Eh, the Parliament Act 1911 was passed by a Liberal Government. > who utterly failed to anticipate how fascism could easily manifest through such a system. The Liberal Party, and its successor the Liberal Democrats, has long been in favour of electoral reform.

and the RIP Act was passed by a Labour government (and the Terrorism Act)

Yes, but we were discussing the supremacy of the House of Commons.
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