PSA: Voyeurs, encrypt your spy videos!

Rohan James Wyllie of Australia doesn't sound much different than your average voyeur intent on capturing a little secret video of his female roommate unawares. He drilled holes in the walls and ceilings, installed cameras, and created an elaborate network of surveillance equipment so he could keep tabs on the girl from the comfort of his bedroom.

After his roommates noticed suspicious lights and buzzing in August 2007, Wyllie was arrested. Eventually he pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to visually record the woman in question in a private place without her consent. Open and shut case, right? Not quite: Wyllie is now going free without a jail sentence.

Why? Because Wyllie encrypted the videos he recorded on his computer. Unable to crack the codes, police were never able to see what he recorded, limiting the evidence they had to use against him. Lacking any hard evidence of wrongdoing outside of the camera setup, the judge had to go on the lenient side for sentencing, since there was no real proof he'd ever actually used it.

Ultimately Wyllie spent 33 days in custody following his arrest and will now spend two more years on probation but will face no further time in the pokey.

In Wyllie's defense his representation has claimed that he was motivated as part of a "sexual fantasy," but rather because he is schizophrenic and was paranoid that he would be persecuted by his roommates.

Encryption has become a hot topic of late, with courts around the world wrestling over whether a suspect in a crime can be compelled to provide passphrases and other codes required to break the encryption on files that would be proof of illegal activity. A Vermont judge ruled a few years ago that a child pornography suspect could not be compelled to reveal his encryption passphrase based on a Fifth Amendment argument that the defendant had a right to refuse information which might incriminate him. On the other hand, Customs agents have routinely forced international travelers to divulge (or at least enter) their passwords on their laptops so the contents can be examined.

Still, it's a good lesson for all aspiring scofflaws to learn. Whether your crime is secretly ogling your statuesque, blonde neighbor or downloading Project Runway via bittorrent, encryption is your friend.