Well clearly she has something to hide. But the Constitution does not expand to your tech products it appears. Check out this Colorado case and 5th amendment rights after the jump.
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Decryption Order Does Not Violate 5th Amendment!!
A Colorado judge has denied a defendant’s argument that the Fifth Amendment protects her from decrypting her computer upon authorities’ request.
The decision came during a criminal trial in which the defendant is accused of bank fraud. She argues that allowing authorities access to the data on her computer would violate her constitutional right protecting self-incrimination. But the judge disagreed.
“I find and conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer,†U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blackburn wrote in his ruling Monday.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief in support of the defendant’s Fifth Amendment plea. In it, the organization said:
“EFF’s interest in this case is the sound and principled application of the Fifth Amendment to encryption passwords and encrypted information stored on computers. EFF submits this brief to help the Court apply the Fifth Amendment privilege against selfincrimination in a manner that ensures the constitutional rights of those who use this technological measure to protect their privacy and security.â€
A letter from the Attorney General’s office opposed the Fifth Amendment plea and reveals the effect the ruling could have on future cases. “This is not a situation where the government seeks to compel a defendant to produce items that may potentially be incriminatory and her act of producing them arguably has evidentiary value to authenticate the items,†it said.
“Public interests will be harmed absent requiring defendants to make available unencrypted contents in circumstances like these,†it went on to say.
