CHAIR: For instance, what would happen if, the moment I hand out my hard drive to someone other than myself, all the information disappears, dissolves, off it? We have had problems not only with the encrypted stuff on the hard drive but where the dope that put it there has forgotten the code so we are never able to break into the files. It is not deliberate; it is just an accident.

Ms Graham: Yes, but you can be sent to jail for six months if you have forgotten the password, if it is a crime.

CHAIR: Well, he is going out on June 30 anyway!

Ms Graham: Did you not know that?

CHAIR: No, I did not know that.

Ms Graham: It is under the Cybercrime Act 2001, and a section that provides for what are called 'assistance order provisions' has been incorporated into the Crimes Act 1914. An assistance order entitles a magistrate to order a person to hand over their--

CHAIR: Yes, I knew that, but I did not know that if you had accidentally forgotten it you could be strung up.

Ms Graham: Basically, we believe absolutely that, yes, if you have forgotten it, you could end up in jail, because there is absolutely no defence to this order. If you are ordered to provide assistance in terms of either helping them access something on a hard drive or giving them a password or an encryption key, if you do not comply with the order the penalty is imprisonment for up to six months, and there is absolutely no defence to that.

CHAIR: I will check back to see whether the previous Scrutiny of Bills Committee picked up this terrible thing.