🤖 I’m a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summaryIn his defence, Ortis told the court he offered secret material to targets as a way of enticing them to use an online encryption service that would feed information to allied spy agencies. Ortis said the counterpart informed him in strict confidence about an online encryption service called Tutanota that was secretly set up to monitor communications of interest. Ortis claimed he then quietly devised a plan, dubbed Nudge, to entice investigative targets to sign on to the encryption service, using promises of secret material as bait. The trail to Ortis’ arrest began the previous year when the RCMP analyzed the contents of a laptop computer owned by Vincent Ramos, the chief executive of Phantom Secure Communications, who had been apprehended in the US. Ortis was accused of communicating with Ramos, who helps produce encrypted cell phones used by organised crime to evade police, and two businessmen who were under investigation by Canadian authorities. Ramos would later plead guilty to using his Phantom Secure devices to help facilitate the distribution of cocaine and other illicit drugs to countries including Canada. — Saved 67% of original text.