Judge orders defendant to decrypt laptop
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/24/tech/web/judge-defendant-decrypt-laptop/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6
This is a follow up to an earlier post.
So it is official now, the government can compel you to testify against yourself, so we can officially cross off the fifth amendment from the Constitution. Since I have no doubt that the government could get a judge to OK them putting some sort of keystroke logger on the machine, or indeed a camera focused on the keyboard, I find it boggling that it is now going to be enshrined that our own thoughts can be compelled from our very noggins. So what now if she doesn’t tell? Will they waterboard her?
Let’s suppose, for a moment, that this person or someone like her is strongly suspected of possessing an illegal item. Presume that the suspicion is strong enough that a judge will issue a search warrant for her home.
What happens if, after a thorough search, the item is not found? Presume that the authorities KNOW (somehow) that the item is in the house. If they approach the judge with the argument that finding it might “require significant resources and may harm the house” can the judge then force her to reveal the hiding place?
It seems to me that this is precisely the same thing. If someone tells me that this is not an infringement of the fifth amendment, I’m going to call “bullchit.”