If the police and/or Crown Prosecution Service claim you’re hiding Material behind a password, you can either hand over the password or get thrown in jail under RIPA §53.
I don’t know what section of the US Code would apply for the same, but a generic “Obstructing Justice” wouldn’t surprise me.
This was on PM earlier, they were interviewing one of the named postmasters: she only found out about this leak when The Mail called for a quote.
As she said herself, there’s accident and there’s incompetence; this leans heavily to the latter.
That’s law in the UK:
Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 gives the police the power to issue a notice which requires the suspect to disclose their PIN or password if necessary. You are not compelled to provide your password to the police in any instance.
However, section 53 of RIPA makes it a criminal offence not to comply with the terms of a s.49 notice which is punishable by up to two years imprisonment and up to 5 years imprisonment in cases involving national security and child indecency.
“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” - Albert Einstein.
Snopes says this sentiment was actually expressed by Einstein, though perhaps not in this exact phrasing.
It’s not all roses and rainbows: Thatcher was a chemical engineer, and the only thing she engineered while in power was the downfall of England as a world power.