Jailed for not handing over Facebook password



safcforever said:
Murder suspect jailed for not revealing Facebook password

Doesn’t sit right with me. Regardless if they claim it was to help an investigation.

It’s his right surely. Where do you draw the line?
Can the police demand you hand over your Facebook password for any investigation now?
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If I had nothing to hide in the murder of a 13 year old school girl I'd be more than willing to give them access to my Facebook account.
 
safcforever said:
Murder suspect jailed for not revealing Facebook password

Doesn’t sit right with me. Regardless if they claim it was to help an investigation.

It’s his right surely. Where do you draw the line?
Can the police demand you hand over your Facebook password for any investigation now?
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It’s a murder investigation. I’m suprised you’re taking this stance.

If a murder suspect had a safe he refused to open for police would you be saying the same?
 
gazc24 said:
If I had nothing to hide in the murder of a 13 year old school girl I'd be more than willing to give them access to my Facebook account.
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I'm not questioning that. I'd 100% hand anything i could over to help but that's my choice surely? The same as if I didn't want to I should be allowed to refuse.
The lad is claiming he has evidence on there relating to crimes regarding cannabis so he doesn't want to hand the details over for that reason.

Just think for one moment that the lad might be telling the truth and the police have jailed him because he didn't want to share his personal messages

Tadger said:
It’s a murder investigation. I’m suprised you’re taking this stance.

If a murder suspect had a safe he refused to open for police would you be saying the same?
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I'm just surprised they are allowed to force you to hand over personal information like that.

Don't get me wrong, the case is a different story and I'm keeping my opinion on that away from this. I just cant accept that regardless of the reason, you can be jailed for not releasing a password to your personal messages
 
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Surely if the police believe there's evidence to be had by gaining access to his Facebook account they could approach Facebook directly and ask for access? Or maybe they agree with the guy in question that they won't prosecute on the other crimes he thinks they may stumble upon.
 
5underland said:
Surely if the police believe there's evidence to be had by gaining access to his Facebook account they could approach Facebook directly and ask for access? Or maybe they agree with the guy in question that they won't prosecute on the other crimes he thinks they may stumble upon.
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That's what they have to do. They've sent the request to Facebook to get access.
The lad is doing time for basically stalling them.
 
5underland said:
Surely if the police believe there's evidence to be had by gaining access to his Facebook account they could approach Facebook directly and ask for access? Or maybe they agree with the guy in question that they won't prosecute on the other crimes he thinks they may stumble upon.
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He's probably more worried about willingly supporting them to find out about the drug supply chain going up and having his legs blown off with a shot gun than getting a fine for a bit of blow.
 
What I don't understand is.... can the police not ask facebook to help out? I mean if they have reason to believe it is useful in the case of murder aren't they obliged to give over the account? Or shouldn't they be?
 
HellsBells said:
Although if he’s using Facebook messenger to arrange his drops offs then he probably deserves all he gets.
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Good point

Aituk7 said:
What I don't understand is.... can the police not ask facebook to help out? I mean if they have reason to believe it is useful in the case of murder aren't they obliged to give over the account? Or shouldn't they be?
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I replied above. They have requested it but it appears to be a long process.

Again though that argues the case that if they can do it themselves then why should someone go to jail for refusing? Surely they should look at why it takes so long and what they can do to improve that, rather than targeting someone for refusing access.
 
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Tadger said:
That’s because deliberately obstructing an investigation is a criminal offence.
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I don't think it is. They have other ways to access this data, it's not this lads fault it takes so long.

Yes, i get he could help with the investigation but what if I witnessed something but didn't want to step forward and supply evidence? do I now face jail time?

cornish mackem said:
Didn’t Apple have a similar thing a few years ago where they stopped a password from being given out?
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They refused to help unlock a phone and they were taken to court for it. I think they won
 
Tadger said:
That’s because deliberately obstructing an investigation is a criminal offence.
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Offence was under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Process is actually quite long winded but quicker than a request for 3rd party information from Facebook I would imagine. The police serve a notice on you 'warning' you that you may commit an offence under RIPA for failing to disclose but they actually have to get a Court order before they can enforce it. I think the max sentence is 2 years. It's not designed for less 'serious' offences so normally you can get away with a 'no comment' to any questions in interview such as what is your phone pin or your facebook password.
 
safcforever said:
Good point


I replied above. They have requested it but it appears to be a long process.

Again though that argues the case that if they can do it themselves then why should someone go to jail for refusing? Surely they should look at why it takes so long and what they can do to improve that, rather than targeting someone for refusing access.
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Well the guy hasn't been found guilty of murder has he? He's been found guilty of obstructing the course of justice or whatever. So it's fine by me. At the end of the day it should be taught to everyone. Everything online can be found out. Don't do anything you potentially can't explain in court. In all honesty I'd punish him severely cos this is the murder of someone.... If the police have enough evidence to warrant the search and a judge approves then fuck him. He complies or goes inside
 
Aituk7 said:
Well the guy hasn't been found guilty of murder has he? He's been found guilty of obstructing the course of justice or whatever. So it's fine by me. At the end of the day it should be taught to everyone. Everything online can be found out. Don't do anything you potentially can't explain in court. In all honesty I'd punish him severely cos this is the murder of someone.... If the police have enough evidence to warrant the search and a judge approves then fuck him. He complies or goes inside
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So should a judge be allowed to order witnesses to stand trial?
 

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