The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to order the defendant, Ramona Fricosu, to decrypt an encrypted laptop that police found in her bedroom during a raid of her home. According to the DOJ:
Public interests will be harmed absent requiring defendants to make available unencrypted contents in circumstances like these. Failing to compel Ms. Fricosu amounts to a concession to her and potential criminals (be it in child exploitation, national security, terrorism, financial crimes or drug trafficking cases) that encrypting all inculpatory digital evidence will serve to defeat the efforts of law enforcement officers to obtain such evidence through judicially authorized search warrants, and thus make their prosecution impossible.
I guess violating the 5th Amendment rights (forcing them to provide testimony that might prove their own guilt) of someone accused of a crime is OK as long as it makes the prosecutors' jobs easier. If what is on that laptop is so important, why not send it along to NSA for analysis?Fortunately the Electronic Frontier Foundation is weighing in on this subject.
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